The Fox and the Vixen
by Gray Fox 2510
Summary: A pseudodirect sequel of SFA that pits Krystal more directly against her past and the truth about her. Currently on hiatus as I rework everything.
1. Epilogue of an old tale

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo.

Now, before we begin there is something I have to say. I don't have a GameCube, thus neither do I own Star Fox Adventures, while I've played it a while I haven't finished it, the rest of the story I missed was told to me, even though the game story won't have an actual bearing in this story (for the obvious reason of me not knowing it completely), Dinosaur Planet will probably also be mentioned, and used as well... Anyway, just ranting over how can't I play (at free will at least) the game I most want to play for GameCube... *Crosses fingers waiting for a GC emulator*...

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance fic about Fox and Krystal, with a side of adventure and action as well...

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 1 - Epilogue of an old tale... And the Beginning of Another!_

* * *

_I still and will always remember that day... Saving the Lylat System was pleasant yes, but nothing compared to my time in Dinosaur Planet, and none of my other missions could compare as well... And the start of all? A beautiful vixen, a distress signal, and me landing on the planet..._

_Her voice started it all, of course, I didn't knew it was hers at first, since it only echoed on my head, but it was a soft, melodic tune on my head nonetheless..._

_The tests of the Krazoas were tricky, to say the least, and dangerous at points, but it paid off... In one of my trips to release a spirit I saw her, the most (A/N: Perhaps the only...) beautiful vixen I've ever seen, and I could have stayed there but Peppy woke me up, it was from that point onwards that I gave it all my best to save her, and finally, I did... Saving her from a giant fall she stole my staff, which was actually hers and dashed to face the "Krazoa God", who just turned out to be Andross... Trying to control the Lylat System was something, but this, was unspeakable, I jumped into my Arwing and got rid of him... Once again..._

_Unfortunately for me, Krystal... Krystal... Sorry, wandered off there, her name always makes me wander off... As I was saying, she had other plans, and we parted our ways that same day that Dinosaur Planet was saved, the last glimpse I saw of her was when she waved me off as I returned her staff, a couple of seconds later, out of her vision, a tear flew it's way down, and the shutters closed..._

_And what happened next? Well, by the next day I had waited as much as I could when I suddenly jumped into my Arwing without warning and left the Great Fox back to Dinosaur Planet..._

The green land of Dinosaur Planet was quiet, unlike the time I previously spent there... Fox landed his Arwing just a couple meters away from where he had last seen Krystal. He jumped out of his Arwing and took in a long breath of the fresh air. A hint of hope flashed on it's face as he set off...

He had spent most of the day searching as much ground as he could and with every step, his hope faded little, by little, by little...

The sun was already setting, and with a down face he sat on the edge of a rather small cliff looking at the sun... He probably spent a while there, not caring about anything else, various dinosaurs have already walked by, and the last he heard was a stampede of Cloud Runners. He let out a long sigh...

"Why the gloomy face?" asked a well-known voice by Fox behind him. The feminine, soft voice echoed in his head just before he turned around and saw her, to say that happiness filled him would be an understatement as he quickly got up and smiled at her.

"I-I... Just remembering the time I spent here" he answered back at the blue vixen, and an obvious lie she detected easily, but decided to play along. She sat down, and motioned Fox to follow, as he sat down next to her... With a little distance anyway...

"It has become quite boring in here... There is nothing to do..." she said and Fox nodded. They gazed at the last minutes of the sunset together in silence.

Finally breaking the silence Fox said, "Yeah, there's nothing to do in the Great Fox as well... Slippy and Falco are the only things that can make one laugh up there... And Pepper hasn't called us with any new missions..." and they kept talking with a lot of silent gaps for the remainder of the day, Krystal had laid down while at night, and before Fox knew, he was talking to himself. He got up and carried Krystal just a little away from the cliff so that she wouldn't fall, muttered a silent "Goodbye" and took slow, silent steps as he walked back to his Arwing in ThornTail Hollow, he opened the cockpit and jumped in, and just as he was about to close it he heard a voice in the distance...

"Wait!" the voice echoed and Fox's eyes lighted up, he twisted inside the Arwing to look behind him and saw what he expected. Krystal was running at him, Fox jumped out of the Arwing and walked forward to meet her. Krystal reached him panting, and when she recovered she spoke up...

"Fox... I.. thought it over... while we talked... a while ago..." she managed between breaths, she was about to speak again when Fox motioned her to just recover before continuing and so she did...

"This place is safe, and it brought me no closer to my past than when I started, the EarthWalkers should be alright on their own..." she started, and with each word Fox's face filled with more and more joy...

"So I though if it would be alright for me to come with you? I might find something about myself out in space" she asked. Fox's tried his best to hide his overwhelming happiness as he nodded, "Of course it would be. I can't promise anything; but we can try" he said a little to enthusiastic. "One thing though. My Arwing is a one-seat type..." he said, Krystal thought it a couple of seconds. "Is there any problem if I go with you?" she asked with her usual naive ness and Fox blushed a little below his brown fur. He shook his head and Krystal smiled, Fox jumped in, and so did Krystal. After closing the cockpit Fox was basically sweating due to the awkwardness of the moment, and Krystal as naive as usual, just enjoyed the trip back to the Great Fox... And never before had Fox found the universe so.. distracting...

* * *

Ok, first chapter, prologue, small... I believe those 3 ideas have the same meaning...

I hope the characterization wasn't out of place, especially of Krystal, but she will probably have the most radical change to her personality during the course of this story... 

At first the fic will just probably go around romance, later on the adventure and action might, and probably will kick in...

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. *shrugs*

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox_2510@hotmail.com  
Until next time! 

Chapter 2: Love can't be stopped... And neither can instincts!


	2. Love can't be stopped

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo.

Now, before we begin there is something I have to say. I don't have a GameCube, thus neither do I own Star Fox Adventures, while I've played it a while I haven't finished it, the rest of the story I missed was told to me, even though the game story won't have an actual bearing in this story (for the obvious reason of me not knowing it completely), Dinosaur Planet will probably also be mentioned, and used as well... Anyway, just ranting over how can't I play (at free will at least) the game I most want to play for GameCube... *Crosses fingers waiting for a GC emulator*...

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance fic about Fox and Krystal, with a side of adventure and action as well...  
By the way, this is basically after Star Fox Adv, and Krystal past changed just a LITTLE... 

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 2 - Love can't be stopped... And neither can instincts!_

* * *

To call the trip embarrassing for Fox was easy. Krystal with hey naive ness really didn't paid much attention to it... Still, the trip back to the Great Fox would be around 2 hours, and they couldn't stay in silence all this time, right?

"Say Krystal..." Started Fox, getting Krystal's attention who was gazing absent-mindlessly at the space, she answered with a small "Hmm?" to which Fox followed; "Why were you still in Dinosaur Planet? I mean, I thought you were going to continue your search for your past..." he ended, Krystal blushed slightly below her cerulean fur. 

"Truth is... I couldn't get off... I had no means of transport, my old ship crashed in another planet and I hitched a ride to Dinosaur Planet..." she said rather shyly, possibly because of the blush... and the irony...

'Never saw you as the flying type...' muttered Fox. "You said something?" asked Krystal, with her ears perked up. "N-no" lied Fox, Krystal easily picked up the lie but decided not to press on. They stood in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes.

"And what about your home planet?" asked Fox, Krystal winced a little and Fox instantly realized he apparently had hit a nerve... or at least some bad memory.

"I guess I should start from the beginning..." she drew a breath but was interrupted by Fox, "You don't have too if you don't feel like it" he said, but Krystal shook her head. "No, this would make it easier for you to help... As much as it pains to remember..."

~*~

_First of all, you should know I come from royal family... In my planet, Cerinia, my parents were the king and queen. Even though I had royal blood my parents, and me as well, refused to go into one of those nifty private schools, I guess they wanted me to blend with more normal people. I preferred that as well... _

_One day however, I was just slightly older that 4 years, I was going back home, when I entered the palace it was all quiet, not to mention dark.. That place always gave me the creeps, one could easily stalk you and you wouldn't even notice... As I was saying, I entered the kitchen and saw the first dead body in my whole life, one of the butlers had been brutally killed, I stared in horror and then ran away as quickly as I could to my chambers, on the way however I crossed my parents' and inside it, I saw not only them but the killed, he brandished a pretty long sword, my parents noticed me and so did the killer, as he moved towards me._

_Completely shocked my body refused to move, I saw the killer's eyes, red eyes and heard a small hiss as it drew its weapon backwards preparing for the blow, I covered my face with my arms but nothing came, I opened my eyes and saw my mother had stood in the way, taking the blow from me. My father in that moment used the same staff I have to momentarily knock the killed, he quickly trusted the staff to me and placed me in some strange mechanism I have never seen before... In his room at least, he bid me farewell and pressed I button, I just cried as I saw the killed creep up on him, and before I could see anything else, I was blasted away... Since that moment on I started hating everything related to gore..._

_A couple of days later the computer of the ship told me I had arrived at Karenia, a small planet not far away from Cerinia. That's where it all started... I walked towards a nearby city, after some strange encounters I started living in an orphanage, I really didn't cared, but my blue fur was my best friend, the other animals found it.. peculiar and teased me for it... That's where I got the practice with my staff. _To that, Krystal grinned at Fox, who just smiled back, even if rather nervously.

_I finally reached 15 there, and while I excelled at piloting, I had no ship of my own, the one I came to the planet with was actually just a pod, one day, close to Dinosaur Planet I received a distress signal, and hitched a ride there... And well, you pretty much know the rest..._

~*~

"That's sums it up a little... Before I actually landed on Dinosaur Planet I made a vow to myself that I would find however murdered my parents..." Krystal ended. Fox, speechless just nodded, Krystal was looking to the outside when a rather big object flew by. The Arwing computer shot up, "We are entering an asteroid belt. Proceed with caution" it said in it's robotic voice as Fox turned the auto pilot off and grabbed the controls...

"Get ready for some fast-paced action!" he said as he moved swiftly between the asteroids blowing one here and another there. In short, he was just basically showing off to Krystal. The 'flight' if you could call it that continued for another 20 minutes before they finally cleared the asteroid belt. Not that Fox cared if she noticed anyway...

"How long until we get there?" asked Krystal. "Possibly around an hour" let out Fox with a sigh, Krystal just nodded. And they just gazed out.

A couple of minutes later... "Krystal......Krystal?" asked Fox, but he noticed the faint snoring of the female vulpine, he had been so lost in his mind he never realized Krystal had laid back her head on his shoulder and entered slumber, Fox decided to let her sleep, as he followed...

"...nation reached. Following standard docking procedures" said the computer of the Arwing as Fox stirred in his sleep, Krystal was still fast asleep. The must have slept the rest of the trip, since the Arwing was already starting to dock on the Great Fox. He whispered Krystal's name into her ear to wake her up, she stirred and opened an eye, followed by the second...

"Krys, we reached the Great Fox, wake up" whispered Fox. "Already?" she muttered as the Arwing's cockpit started to rise.

"Fox! Where the hell where you?! We were wo... oh!" started yelling Peppy at the Arwing but stopped when he saw Krystal emerge from the Arwing, jumping down and barely keeping her balance. Fox quickly followed but tripped with his shoe laces and fell sideways, Krystal giggled and Fox just blushed.

"I was going to ask why you suddenly disappeared but I guess this answers my question..." said Peppy as he stepped closer, he was wearing his usual red suit with his brown trench coat and the boots. He then nudged Fox in the side after he had gotten up.

"It's nothing like that!" he snarled and Peppy chuckled for a moment, muttering a "Whatever" as he left the room.

"What was that?" asked a confused vixen at Fox. "Nothing... Nothing at all..." he answered back, Krystal just shrugged. Fox stepped forward and motioned her to follow, which she did.

Fox led her around a series of hallways and corridors before stopping in front of a door, he typed in a code in a numeric pad besides it and the door slid open.

"I know it's not much, but you can use this room for yourself" said Fox as he let Krystal go in, she looked around with a big smile on her face. Though the room was not so much it was the most she had had in a long while, in the orphanage she had lived before she shared a rather BIG room with all the other kids, and then being encaged on a crystal... The room was rather simple, it had a large bed in the middle, a desk on a side next to a big drawer and closet, on the other side was a door to a bathroom.

"It's great!" shouted Krystal overflowing with happiness, so much that she hugged Fox and the turned around to see her room again, Fox was surprised to say the least, but as soon as it came, it ended, and he sighed. He was turning around to leave when he heard Krystal, "Fox, thanks again for everything... Not only saving me but taking me in in your ship as well"; Fox smiled at her and left, saying; "I'll come back tomorrow, it's kinda late already, you should rest", he waved goodbye and left to the control room of the ship, where Peppy was already telling Slippy about Fox's 'escapade', he snarled at him for that but simply left to his own room, tired of the trip he simply plummeted into bed, ending another day...

* * *

Well, 2nd chapter done.. Probably another one and then for the first mission...

Krystal~ I better not die, get tortured, or anything else in this story as well...

Alan~ We know that kinda hard... Since you seem to draw trouble right at you...

Krystal~ *Takes out her staff and gives a menacing look*

Alan~ But I'll try to avoid that nevertheless... *sweatdrop*

Krystal~ *Smiles and takes away her staff* Good!

Alan~ Anyway, let me prepare the next chapter....

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. *shrugs*

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox_2510@hotmail.com  
Until next time! 

Chapter 3: Vulpines...


	3. Vulpines

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. *shrugs*

Now, before we begin there is something I have to say. I don't have a GameCube, thus neither do I own Star Fox Adventures, while I've played it a while I haven't finished it, the rest of the story I missed was told to me, even though the game story won't have an actual bearing in this story (for the obvious reason of me not knowing it completely), Dinosaur Planet will probably also be mentioned, and used as well... Anyway, just ranting over how can't I play (at free will at least) the game I most want to play for GameCube... *Crosses fingers waiting for a GC emulator*...

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance fic about Fox and Krystal, with a side of adventure and action as well...  
By the way, this is basically after Star Fox Adv, and Krystal past changed just a LITTLE... 

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 3 - Vulpines..._

* * *

In space one could never tell what time was it due to the shrouding blackness, and because of the time each planet had it was even more difficult. Fox along with his crew had decided long time ago to have their watches at the Cornerian time always... 

A tall slender figure walked through the various hallways, it reached a door and opened it, the small light of the hallway stirred the one inside the room and mumbled in it's sleep as it woke up, looked at the doorway and in less that a second he was already up in a crouching position aiming it's blaster at the doorway, it blinked a couple of times and noticed who it really was...

"Sorry Krystal" yawned Fox as he placed back his blaster on the mini table besides his bed. "What's the problem?" he asked as he sat in bed and motioned Krystal to follow, she stepped in stifling a yawn and sat down.

"I can't seem to sleep..." she said trying her best not to sound like a little girl. Fox chuckled to which Krystal returned a small growl, obviously not liking being teased.

"The ship is perfectly safe, if something manages to get in the alarm goes wild, and you can be sure we'll be there" assured Fox, stifling a yawn as well, he turned around to watch at his clock and read 4.27 AM. Fox turned around and found himself staring right into Krystal's eyes, who stared back, she mouthed a small 'Thanks' and they both started moving closer toward each other, they closed their eyes at the same time and drew their muzzles closer, just as they were about to lock the alarm shot up and the ship suddenly rocked rather hard, sending both foxes down to the floor, coincidentally, Krystal broke the fall by landing above Fox. They boy got up, Fox just jumped into his green pants and vest and he dashed off the bridge with Krystal following him. When they reached it, Slippy and Peppy were already there, arguing. 

"Slippy! Hadn't you set the course to avoid the asteroid belt we had seen?!" the grey hare inside a giant bathrobe yelled, as a green frog only in boxers, who was trying to regain control shot back "I did!... I think..." Peppy just sighed.

"Computer, Status report" said Fox and a small window projected showing the status of the Great Fox, the hit had been minimum and only damaged the right wing just a little, the screen quickly changed to display a map of the zone they were in, a lot of dots blipped on the screen signaling the asteroids, most were pretty little but they could still rack up some damage in quantities...

"Alright, I'm heading out!" Fox yelled as he dashed towards the door, "I'll go too!" added Krystal and Fox stopped in his tracks. "Krystal! Do you know how to pilot an Arwing at least?!" he yelled back, not that he was angry, but he surely didn't wanted to let the Great Fox take more damage. "I haven't flown an Arwing, but other types of ship..." she said. "Then sorry, but I prefer you to stay here..." finished Fox apologetically, Krystal nodded with a sad lock and sat down as Fox sprinted to the hangar. The Arwing as if reading his mind opened the cockpit and Fox jumped in acrobatically and landed neatly in the seat, the cockpit closed and Fox launched. 

Fox quickly made an u-turn and headed to the front of the Great Fox and started shooting around destroying any asteroid that had the Great Fox in it's course. He spotted a red light to his side and quickly rolled to deflect the beam, he looked sideways and spotted a Venom Spacecraft, he was just about to turn to shoot at it but a blue laser pierced it and it exploded, a communication channel opened in Fox's screen and the face of Krystal flashed, "Told ya I could be of some help" she said as she flew in front of Fox and deflected a beam from another venomian high-tailing her, Fox easily took it down.

"Krystal! What are you doing here?!" Fox yelled, and the face of Peppy suddenly appeared. "Sorry Fox, couldn't stop her" and Peppy was off. Fox sighed... "No sense in trying to stop her now..." he muttered to himself as he joined Krystal. Apparently the venomians had decided to pay a visit, even though these were smaller drones they had to be taken care of...

"Need any help with the controls Krys?" asked Fox, whose face appeared in Krystal's screen. "Not really, I think I got it all covered, if anything, I'll ask you.." she answered back as she flew between the enemy ranks wreaking havoc, Fox noticed that indeed she was good at piloting as she took care of the asteroids as well as the enemies, but still behind Fox. 

"Computer, field report" he said as the screen flashed and a small radar of the battleground appeared, the red dots signaling the asteroids were still large in amounts, but as long as they were out of the path of the Great Fox they didn't cared, the green dots were the venomian fleet, and they were rapidly decreasing in number as every second one of the blips faded out, the only two blue dots on the field were Krystal and Fox. There were around 30 venomians left and they suddenly flew away, Fox dashed behind them and threw in a bomb that destroyed most of the spacecrafts as he turned back, with the help of Krystal they cleared the last few asteroids as they docked back in the Great Fox hangar, Fox got out first and stood before the Arwing Krystal had 'borrowed', which was in fact just a spare Arwing, she jumped down and stared directly into a pair of angry fox eyes. 

She smiled sheepishly, "Are you mad at me?" she asked, "If I am? Krystal you deliberately disobeyed me! What would have I done if something happened to you?!" Fox snarled back, Krystal just hung her head down. "I did appreciated the help but next time don't do something so recklessly..." he said as Krystal lifted her head up, Fox smiled at him, "So that means..." she started and was cut off, "Perhaps, I could use another skilled pilot in the time being but you must first pass Pepper's test, and he is rather strict..." he said, somewhere deep he was regretting the choice. Krystal was a good pilot yes, but he wouldn't be able to face it if something happened to her. Krystal smiled and hugged Fox, at the same time rubbing her cheek against his, sending a small shock from the static energy.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" asked Fox startled, not that he cared anyway... "It's a small sign of affection from Cerinia... And it feels good as well," she finished as she did it again, just then the door to the hangar opened.

"Hey, Fox... Oops, bad timing..." said Peppy as he entered the room trailed by Slippy, Fox and Krystal quickly pushed apart.

"It's not what you think!" they both yelled in unison.

"I think it is..." said Peppy, as Fox and Krystal huffed away. "Anyway, we cleared the asteroid belt, and someone said he fixed a better course..." he said rather angrily eyeing the toad. "I told you I forgot!" Slippy retorted, Peppy just said "Uh huh" as they left to leave the two foxes alone... They just shrugged and went to the dinning room, it was around 7 AM already and they were hungry...

~*~

"Any special dish you have in mind?" Fox asked as he showed Krystal to the dinner, she sat down on the table Fox motioned at. She shook her face and answered back, "Surprise me," she said with a big grin, Fox sighed theatrically as he went to the kitchen. He looked at a small numeric pad and shrugged.

"You like fish?" he asked, he heard a small shriek of "Fish!" and in less than a second Krystal was already standing before him. This made him chuckle nervously, "I'll call you when it's ready," said Fox as Krystal nodded a little too much and went back to seat. Fox pressed a couple of keys and a couple of trouts (spelling?) appeared out of nowhere from a shuttle, Fox took his usual gloves and placed in another pair, probably to protect his gloves as he started cooking the fish. After a couple of minutes a very impatient blue vixen was sitting on the table as Fox came back holding a plate with the dish he had fixed (which I won't explain since I don't like fish... So my knowledge about it's dishes it's pretty much zero...).

Fox gave half of the dish to Krystal and he took the rest, they both started eating...

"Delicious!" exclaimed Krystal as she wiped her muzzle with a napkin ending her meal, Fox soon followed and did the same, just as he had put the napkin down Peppy busted in. "Fox, incoming transmission from General Pepper, come to the bridge ASAP" he said before leaving. Fox's eyes sparkled in hopes of a new mission and got up, Krystal high-tailed him to the bridge...

* * *

Talk about a hanging point.. Well.. sort of a crappy one anyway..

Krystal~ You said it!

Alan~ *stern look*

Krystal~ I thought you said this was going to be the chapter were Fox..

Alan~ I say a lot of things... *Shrugs* There are some things that couldn't be worked in in the last time... Just wait...

Krystal~ Hmm... I'll forgive you for the fish dish... *Licks the surrounding area of the mouth*

Alan~ *Muttering* Note to self: Remember to black mail Krystal with fish...

Krystal~ Did you said my name?

Alan~ No, you must be hearing things... *Sheepish grin*

Krystal~ I swear I...

Alan~ Anyway, look for next chapter! *Dashes off*

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. *shrugs*

And by the way, the rubbing-cheek thingy, yes, I believe Gold Ninetails used it, it just seemed rather cute so I decided to as well, but the idea was originally his... Anyway, just posting this for those who wondered. And thanks (even though you might not know) to Gold Ninetails!

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox_2510@hotmail.com  
Until next time! 

Chapter 4: First Mission!


	4. First Mission

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [Shrugs]

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance fic about Fox and Krystal, with a side of adventure and action as well...

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 4 - First Mission!_

* * *

Fox and Krystal quickly reached the bridge, just after Peppy, Fox sat on his chair and pressed a couple of buttons as a holographic image of Pepper appeared in front of him. Krystal peered from behind Fox's seat. 

"Morning Star Fox" said the hologram of Pepper. "Morning General" greeted back Fox, an obvious grin in his face waiting for a new mission.

"I have a small mission for you" said Pepper and Fox nodded, Slippy and Peppy suddenly forgot about everything else to hear Pepper. Fox nodded again. "There have been some reports of activity in Titania, some claim it's Andross again," he stopped to sigh, "I want you to search this area but try to stay out of problem, land far from the coordinates I'll be sending you in a minute to avoid being spotted" he finished and the screen went dead. A couple of numbers flashed on the screen afterwards. Fox stared blankly...

"I had expected something better for a mission after the last one..." he said. "How better can I get than meeting me?" asked Krystal playfully and everyone bursted into laugh.

"Well, better get ready... I'll take a shower and then head out, set course for Titania in the meanwhile" ordered Fox as he started walking towards the door. "Can I come along with you to Titania?" asked Krystal from behind Fox. He turned around and gazed into Krystal's own version of puppy eyes (if you can call them that...).

"Even if I say no you are coming along right?" asked Fox, Krystal happily nodded. "Fine..." he sighed, "But be ready for when I leave" he ended, turned around and left the room, a small breeze alerted him that Krystal had already rushed to her room.

Inside the bridge however, Peppy stared at the door, "Ah, the joy of being young" he said as he moved towards the main console, Slippy just rolled his eyes and started setting the coordinates for Titania. "Rob, check the status of the Arwings for me please" Slippy said, "Affirmative," responded the robot as he moved out towards the hangar.

After like around 1 hour later, Fox finally left the bathroom (Fox- Think it's easy to dry all this fur?!) and then grabbed his clothes, which unsurprisingly enough were his usual... He just grabbed his blaster, placed it in the holster on his belt and left to the hangar, where a grinning vixen was waiting already.

"All systems are at 100%" sair Rob in his robotic voice. "Thanks Rob!" said back Fox nodding. Rob left the hangar then passing by Fox, his Arwing cockpit opened and was followed by the one Krystal had 'borrowed' the last time. They both jumped in and started their machines, by this time they were pretty close to Titania already, and it would only take around 30 minutes of flying to reach the coordinates Pepper had given.

"Remember Krystal..." started Fox as his face popped up in Krystal's screen, "We are just investigating, no need to rush things" he ended. Krystal nodded and looked down at her staff, hoping she wouldn't have to use it. Both Arwings just flew through space as the com links remained dead...

Finally reaching Titania both left their Arwings, they walked towards each other.

Krystal gazed up a little into Fox's eyes and started, "Fox, if anything should happen, if one of us gets caught, then..." she stopped abruptly, placed both hands around Fox's head and drew him into a deep kiss, which startled Fox but then followed, after a couple of seconds later they broke up, Krystal blushed under hey cerulean fur. "Krystal, I..." started Fox but Krystal waved him off but didn't lifted her head, "Don't say it, promise me that we'll come back safe and together, then say it.. Otherwise it would be too hard if something happens... To any of us..." she finished. Fox noticed a small glittering object fly towards the sand floor, with a hand he lifted Krystal's head and with the other he wiped the tears from her eyes, then drew her to a small hug and said "I promise". After a couple of seconds they broke up and Krystal cleaned the rest of the tears on her face and both nodded to each other then started walking in the direction the base was.

Since they had landed far away enough to avoid detection they had a long walk.. Fox watched into the small computer etched on one of his armlets to check the distance, the computer itself didn't had much. Just com links, a small GPS and could display one's vital signs. Titania was pretty much a barren desert f sorts, the only thing you could see were some strange plants here and these and bones of animals that Fox never knew. The sand was reddish and a small sandstorm blew by. After a couple of minutes of walking in the sand and climbing a small hill they could see hints of the base behind the sandstorm.

"Wait a second..." said Fox as he zoomed with his blaster to spot any search towers, but the 'help' of the sandstorm only made things harder, he looked for around 5 minutes before he could actually spot one. Using the best of his accuracy he shot and hoped for the rest, after the sandstorm allowed him to see he could notice the body of a giant ape in the floor of the tower, fortunately on the inside so it would be harder to spot. He moved to the next one and did the same, he managed to hit as well, he placed his blaster back in it's holster and shook the cramp of his arm.

They dashed through the sandstorm as best as they could and reached a wire fence, seeing no actual enemies near they crawled below it. On the other side Fox quickly yanked Krystal away into a bush, she was about to protest but Fox covered her mouth, just a second later another giant ape passed by. After a few seconds they moved out and dashed into a nearby building, hearing no sounds from the inside they entered it. It was in total darkness, but both foxes' keen eyes allowed them to see, Fox motioned Krystal to follow him, after bending a corner Fox placed a hand to his side halting Krystal as well, he silently asked Krystal to blow ice which she did, revealing various red beams in the narrow hallway. They carefully went through them, with Krystal blowing another barrage every now and then.

With every step a sound could be heard closer and closer, they realized it was a voice.

"Jood udokxadw jkhudwo, sutok?" asked a gruff voice, Fox left a blank face as Krystal listened in closely.

"Dekxadw, jah" answered back another voice, trying to show respect.

"Weet, xen aj kxo rae noufed weadw?" asked the first voice again.

"Loho nocc, jah. No jxeict ro urco ke vadajx ak ad zijk u seifco ev noobj"

"Noobj?!"

"Ak'j kxo rojx no sud te ke mubo ak vcuncojj, jah"

"Vado, fhesoot nakx kxo jsxoticot hojouhsx udt walo ad kxo hojickj ke General Scales." Now to the only thing Fox could understand his eyes shot up along with Krystal's.

"Ooj, jah!" finished the 2nd voice and started getting closer as the other started to walk away. Fox quickly grabbed Krystal and dashed off into a nearby room, trying not to make any noise. He knew he had succeeded when he heard footsteps getting further away, Krystal rubbed Fox's shoulder to get his attention but Fox seemingly waved it off, Krystal persisted and Fox turned around, ready to ask "What?".

The room they were in was small, possibly a small storage and as the rest of the place, it was dark, you could notice a couple of shelves with some stuff on them.

"About what they said..." started Krystal, Fox nodded, "I believe they are developing some kind of bio weapon, and as you heard, Scales is back" she finished with a small growl, which to Fox sounded plainly cute... But now was not the time for that. "Don't worry... We should be getting out anyway, at least we know they are up to something," Krystal nodded and followed Fox out after checking for any close sounds. They walked back, fortunately for them, the security beams had been disabled so they had no trouble getting out.

However, once outside after they took just one step around 15 apes and SharpClaws were surrounding them with rifles ready, Fox and Krystal backed to each other, Fox drew his blaster and Krystal readied her staff on her hands. Fox whispered something into Krystal's ear. In a second she had jumped and landed with the tip fiercely with her staff on the ground, making everything tremble and knocking of balance the apes and SharpClaws. "Run!" yelled Fox even though it was obvious as they dashed away and crawled below the wire fence. While the were rushing away Fox's looked into his small computer but it was jammed, probably due to a magnetic field on the sandstorm, he looked back and spotted half of the enemies the had seen chasing them and with rifles ready.

"Shoot!" Fox yelled as he turned to a halt and spun 180 degrees with blaster ready, using his aiming sense he shot down 3 quickly and Krystal, with a small fireball sent from her staff knocked out another 3, the one that remained suddenly placed it's rifle in semi-automatic as it sent a lot of shots away, Fox knocked Krystal to the floor, and he landed basically above and to the side of her acting as a shield, however a shot had managed to hit his right ear on the way down, and while it just hit the very tip, it was bleeding nonetheless, he rolled to a side and shot in front of him, the shoot suddenly ceased and he knew he landed the hit.

He helped Krystal up and they continued running, hoping to get back right away. They spotted their Arwings as their cockpits opened, they jumped inside and after a few seconds both were flying away... Krystal retracted her staff to portable while in the jump and just placed it on her side, Fox opened a small contained inside his Arwing and took out a small bandage, he ripped a piece of with his teeth and nursed the wound on his ear. Krystal's face appeared on Fox's screen, "Are you alright?" she asked worried. "Nothing too serious, just bleeding a little..." Fox said as he clipped the bandage, Krystal let out a long sigh as Fox smiled. They just flew silently through space until 30 minutes later they docked in the Great Fox. Just as soon as they landed Fox talked into the small computer on his arm.

"Peppy, open a channel with General Pepper fast, in on my way to the bridge" he said as he dashed off, with Krystal trailing. "Alright" echoed Peppy's voice from Fox's arm. When they reached the bridge Pepper's face was already displayed.

"Found anything Fox?" asked Pepper. Fox got closer and started, "General Scaled, whom I met on Dinosaur Planet has apparently allied with Andross, or perhaps vice versa. Whichever might be the case, I believe they are getting ready for another war, they are developing some sort of bio weapon, but we couldn't find any relevant information on that" finished Fox, smacking himself for forgetting to search for such vital info.

"Hmm... Another war... That Andross never knows when to quit... If it's him indeed, which I suspect so..." he pondered on that for a while.

"Very well, Fox, you will be credited with your pay in just a minute, we will be looking for information on our own for a while, but be ready, we might be calling you for another mission soon" he said and added, "Pepper out" as he shut off the link.

Fox sighed and left the room, and as usual with Krystal behind, Peppy and Slippy stayed behind in the bridge setting the course to Corneria. Both foxes entered Fox's room. He turned around and gazed into Krystal's eyes.

"As I promised, we are back and safe... Save for a little scratch" he said as he looked upwards, Krystal giggled a little.

"So I... I..." Fox stammered while looking into her eyes, this triggered another small giggle from the blue vixen. "Anyway..." said Fox as he drew Krystal into another deep kiss which lasted for what seemed like minutes, both parted away and yet again blushed, not quite used to the feeling inside them.

"Fox I..", "Krystal I.." both started at the same time. "Krystal, ever since I saw you encased on that crystal I kinda.. felt something for you..." said Fox blushing a little. "And when you saved me I was so thankful I guess I did too..." the same for Krystal.

"So you should know by now that I love you" said Fox gulping, Krystal smiled, "I love you too" she said as they kissed yet again, but this time they didn't blushed afterwards, they were just holding hands looking at each other's eyes...

* * *

Alan- So there you have it! Not exactly the best love scene you could ask for but...  
Krystal- Talk about stating the obvious... [Rolls eyes]  
Alan- Hey! At least say I didn't made them capture you... I was going to, but decided not to...  
Krystal- Oh well, a couple of good points for that, and more since you finally wrote this..  
Fox- About time...   
Alan- Anyway, just wait for next chapter... [Fox and Krystal walk away together]  
Alan- Geez... 

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]

By the way, here is the translated Dino language...

"Seen anything strange, cadet?" asked a gruff voice, Fox left a blank face as Krystal listened in closely.   
"Nothing, sir" answered back another voice, trying to show respect.   
"Good, how is the bio weapon going?" asked the first voice again.   
"Very good, sir. We should be to finish it in just a couple of weeks"  
"Weeks?!"  
"It's the best we can do to make it flawless, sir"  
"Fine, prepare with the scheduled research and give in the reports to General Scales" Now to the only thing Fox could understand his eyes shot up along with Krystal's.   
"Yes, sir!"

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510hotmail.com  
Until next time!

Chapter 5: Prelude to a war.


	5. Prelude to a War

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [Shrugs]

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance fic about Fox and Krystal, with a side of adventure and action as well...

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 5 - Prelude to a War._

* * *

Fox and Krystal had spent most of the night talking, and they got so caught in it that both suddenly fell asleep embracing each other. Fox stirred in his sleep as a ray of light hit his face, he opened his eyes but quickly shut them away placing a hand in front to block the light. He got up and looked outside, and recognized the place they were. Back already in Corneria in the Star Fox HQ, and apparently Solar was aligned with Corneria and the rays were strong. His ears suddenly perked up when he noticed a small snoring, he turned around and stared into Krystal, who had also sleep there, since both passed away. 

He just smiled at the wonderful sight in front of him but decided against waking her up, he just grabbed another set of his usual clothing and entered the bathroom, the sound of running water started. After about an hour he finally went out, his fur was not entirely dry, but most of it, his clothing was a little damp anyway. As he stepped out Krystal was already up and was laying down in bed, staring right into the bathroom doom with a wide grin, Fox just let out a small "Ah!" as he sighted her, not expecting to see her, and the smile was kind of... unnerving...

"Why didn't you woke me up?" asked Krystal getting up and embracing Fox. "You seemed like you were sleeping very comfortably.. Not to mention you look pretty cute asleep" said Fox back, Krystal smiled and kissed Fox, after a couple of seconds they separated. "I should take a shower as well... See you in the dinning?" asked Krystal, Fox nodded, they kissed again and Krystal left. Fox smiled to himself thinking how in all the galaxy he got her as a girlfriend. He left out the room and just walked around for a while, then headed to the dinning room inside the Great Fox. Peppy and Slippy were already there.

"Morning" greeted Fox, "Morning" greeted back the two as they were eating their breakfasts. Fox just grabbed a tray and entered a code into a keypad, from a small shuttle came out a small plate of scrambled eggs, a small piece of bacon and a little tuna (Fox: I love fish, so?). He grabbed a glass and poured in some orange juice, he then sat down and started eating. A sudden silence alerted Fox something was wrong, he looked up and noticed an accusing look from Peppy and Slippy, Fox rolled his eyes, "Nothing happened... We just fell asleep over time..." he said calmly as the two just shrugged and resumed their eating.

"Besides, how did you know?" asked Fox rather angrily. "I was going to wake you up to tell you we were back in Corneria, saw you both sleeping and just left.." Peppy answered back, "And yet you tell... Anyway..." continued Fox. Since he stalled so much time before he left for the dinning room Krystal was ready as well and entered the room. With what little she had learned from Fox of the 'menu' she typed in a code and placed the tray below the small shuttle. A small omelet went down and coincidentally, also with a small tuna (Krystal: What?), she also grabbed a small glass of orange juice and sat down next to Fox, and unknown to Peppy and Slippy, Fox and Krystal were already in a small tug-o-war with their tails, playfully though as they ate the rest of their breakfasts.

"Any messages from Pepper?" asked Fox, "None" answered Peppy. "Alright... We're going out for a while" said Fox as he got up and picked up the tray he had and placed it on an automatic dish cleaner, Krystal did the same and followed Fox, Peppy and Slippy coughed into their hands.

They walked through the corridors silently until they reached the small door in the Great Fox that led to the outside. They had landed in front of a house, which server as the Star Fox HQ while they weren't on the Great Fox. Krystal looked around, "It's pretty much like Cerinia, but a little behind in technology" she said, "I like it... Better than having to be on space a couple of months..." said Fox as he shrugged.

"Where to then?" asked Krystal as Fox led her. "I've been thinking you could use a pair or two of clothing, the outfit you have right now isn't exactly common here... I've already asked to make you a uniform for the Star Fox team but they need your measurements anyway..." said Fox. The streets were rather simple, since they were on the housing district there weren't many cars, which hovered a couple of centimeters above ground as they dashed along.

"I'm gonna be part of the Star Fox?!" asked Krystal, obviously surprised, she never expected Fox to keep his word on that. "I thought you wanted to..." said Fox halting and looking at her. "Yes I do, but didn't thought you actually meant it", "Why not? You are an excellent pilot" he started and under his breath he added 'and cute', "But I think it will take a while to find anything about your past..." he finished.

"You still also have to pass Pepper's 'exam' anyway..." added Fox as Krystal nodded. "What's it about?", "Basically, it just tests your flying skills, attacking and defending in a lot of ways, it's not that hard, but it does needs experience. You shouldn't have any trouble" he finished. They were finally entering the main district of this particular sector of Corneria. The planet itself wasn't totally populated and there were a lot of prairies between cities, and each city had their own housing district along with the business one, which is where basically everything else was.

It mainly had long, tall buildings. As they started to walk between them a lot of people were giving a couple of unnerving looks at Krystal, she dismissed them but it still felt weird. "That's why I told you about your clothing..." warned Fox, "Just ignore them..." he finished.

They entered a building not long away, it was about 4 floors high and wide, basically, just common mall but of 4 floors. Fox led Krystal through the building, ignoring even more looks until they came to a small, but widely known tailor, which had done the uniforms for the Star Fox team for a while already. The small shop on the outside had a rustic look, made of brown carved wood giving it a strange touch to it, both entered the store which made a small chime echo in the air. A gray wolf on the inside turned away his attention from a piece of silk as he looked at the door. He was wearing a pair of green formal pants, a gray shirt with an open green coat on top.

"Fox!" he yelled somewhat as he left the counter and went to greet Fox.

"Tom!" Fox greeted back as they shook hands, Tom looked behind Fox and spotted a blue vixen, he nudged Fox in the side who just coughed politely.

"Tom, she is Krystal. Krystal, Tom" Fox said presenting both as they also shook hands, a little less friendly though. "She is about to become part of our Star Fox team, so..." Fox started and was interrupted, "Say no more, I'll work right away on her uniform. Sharon!" he yelled, and a white and black female husky stepped out of a room, wearing a black long skirt with a white blouse, basically blending with her own fur.

"Yes?" she called in a soft voice, definitely not what one would expect from this kind of animal. "Can you please take the measurements of this lovely lady?" he asked as Krystal stepped up front, blushing a little from the compliment, "Certainly, please come with me" Sharon nodded and Krystal followed her into the room she was just before.

After she left, "Where in the world you found someone like her?" asked Tom looking back at Fox. "Saved her in Dinosaur Planet, and I decided to help her with her own quest, guess things picked up from there..." he said smiling, as Tom chuckled.

"She already passed Pepper's test?" Tom asked going behind the counter again. "No, but I'm sure she'll do pretty well, I've seen her fly and fight already, and she was good, Pepper's test won't be a problem at all" he said confidently. "Good," Tom nodded. After around 20 minutes later of talking and laughing Krystal left the room with Sharon behind her. Krystal stood now wearing a pair of white pants along with a blouse, white as well. Over it a black seemingly loose jacket, and above it on the shoulders Krystal still had her usual golden shoulder-pads. Her hands were still adorned by the golden bracelets as well, but hidden beneath the jacket. At the bottom, the same sandals-like footwear she had always used for quite a long while already.

"How do I look?" she asked shyly, not actually used to this kind of clothing... Well, she used to, but a long time ago. Fox hung his mouth open, and while yes, he liked a little more her usual loincloth she was still looking perfect for him.

"Wonderful!" said both males in unison and Krystal giggled as she try to get used to the feeling of being fully clothed.

"Oh yeah, forgot to emblazon the Star Fox emblem" said Sharon as she snapped her fingers, Krystal took off the jacket and gave it to Sharon showing that her shirt was short sleeved. Sharon took it and went back to the same room as before, and in about a minute the usual Star Fox emblem was already on the right side of jacket, around the height of the chest. She took it back on and resumed getting used to it.

"What about my clothing?" asked Krystal. "Right here" answered Sharon as she handed in a bag with her loincloth in it. Fox went back with Tom to the counter and handed in a small plastic card, Tom took it and swiped it through an electric reader and a small sum was subtracted, all 4 said goodbye and left the local.

"Need anything at all, or are you ready for Pepper's test?" Fox asked to Krystal, who was walking right next to him with arms interlocked. "I think I'll give it a shot..." she said. "Then we should get your Arwing, Pepper prefers if you use your own vehicle instead of his" Fox said as he laughed somewhat, "I remember him telling me the first time I took the test, I didn't have any experience that time and he was practically yelling at me" he added as he laughed again, Krystal chuckled. Both then headed back to their HQ, home, whatever...

Around 20 minutes later they contacted Pepper through the Great Fox link system, and told them to meet in a field not far away from the city, both took off on their Arwings and left.

The ride was quiet... In the outside at least, Fox and Krystal were having a nice talk through the com links as they flew over the green prairies on one of the various sectors of the Cornerian planet. Fox laid back on his seat and breathed deeply, this continued for a while until he was startled by a com-link opening as Krystal's face appeared in front of Fox.

"So what's this 'test' about?" she asked with extra emphasis on the word 'test', Fox sat a little more straight while regaining his posture and simply answered, "He changes the tests most of the time, but they usually go from a course of obstacles to a small fight with computerized drones," Krystal nodded, Fox took another breath...

"If its anything like how mine was, then the beginning is the course of obstacles I mentioned, basically you have to fly at a certain speed while avoiding the obstacles and trying not to get hit, you have limited boundaries to maneuver as well. And in my case there were some rings scattered around, if you fly through them without missing one Pepper gets on your side... Anyway, after that there was a small fight against... 30 drones or so, again, with limited boundaries... In short, the less damage your Arwing takes, the better..." he finished, and Krystal nodded again.

Both Arwings turned around a little to avoid a small mountain and they reached a wide open field, Fox simply scowled at the sight and Krystal went a little wide-eyed. Across the giant field laid numerous barriers, conveyor belts, doors, and a big number of floating rings, at the end of all of it, a giant dome. The whole course could be around 3 kilometers long, and the dome spawned around 7 square kilometers, or course, in a circle shape.

At the side not far away was an Arwing already on the ground, both Fox and Krystal landed nearby, turned off the engines, and stepped into the windy prairie.

"General Pepper" saluted Fox. Pepper returned the salute. Krystal simply tried imitating Fox.

"Krystal..." Pepper started. "Knowing Fox he must have given you a rundown of the course already," he paused, Fox smiled and Krystal nodded, "But I'll say it again just to make it clear... The first part of the course is pretty simple, fly through at the speeds I will give you along the course while avoiding all the obstacles, try not to damage your Arwing at all. The more of the rings you can go through without missing track of the course or suffering damage will show a better piloting skill," he paused for a small breath, "The next part is simple as well, that is if what Fox said about your fighting skills is true, inside the dome I will release a number on computerized drones, try to defeat them all as quickly as possible, and again, while suffering as less damage as possible" he finished and Krystal nodded yet once again... Strange custom of her...

Fox mouthed a silent 'good luck' towards Krystal who smiled back, she walked towards her Arwing and went up, she flew to what should be the start of the course, considering the dome was on the other side and waited. Pepper's face appeared on Krystal's Arwing screen and displayed the speed she had to keep up with. She took in a few breaths and dashed away.

At first it was pretty simple, the rings were just scattered around, and Krystal was just moving around, things started to pick up a little once Pepper raised the speed and a couple of barriers started to jump from the land, but she managed through it nonetheless, the next part had doors closing and opening and 2 rings in some place though at different heights near the door, so she had to time her somersault correctly unless she wanted to smash against the metal door, so far, no damage at all... Next phase had a couple of sensors on the ground shooting a couple of beams, doing quick consecutive barrel rolls is never fun mind you, she hadn't missed a ring so far. Finally on the last part of the course was a combination of all the first parts, rings scattered everywhere, doors quickly followed by barriers and with the same sensors sending the small beams. She was doing still well, though a barrier surprised her making her lose a little control which also made her miss a ring ruining the chain, she mentally snapped her fingers as she left the track and entered the dome.

Sure enough, around 30 to 40 drones where basically surrounding her, she flew upwards as the drones closed in and u-turned to assault them, in just a quick maneuver she took out around 10 of them, if she could have used a Graviton Bomb then most of the drones would have fell already... She quickly started pursuing all the drones she could take off, rolling whenever the radar picked a shot aimed at her, all in all, she took them all off quickly enough, though a fire got the very tip of the right wing, not any noticeable damage in the Arwing structure, but the burned-out color could tell. She then left the dome through the same entrance and landed her Arwing besides Fox's. She jumped off it once it was on ground and walked a little dizzy towards Pepper.

"All the rolling got to you?" asked Fox mockingly, "Uh huh..." answered Krystal as she shook the dizziness off.

"You did well... Much unlike your friend first 2 attempts..." said Pepper in a sarcastic tone looking at Fox. "Hey! Those were the first two times I flew an Arwing, and you knew you were taking the risk!" Fox cut back. Pepper shook his head, "Whichever might have been the case that time... You did wonderfully, just a couple of simple mistakes that could happen to everyone, but they should be fixed with practice."

"So you mean..." started Krystal with a wide grin forming in her face, Pepper added, "Yes, you can be part of the Star Fox team as long as Fox is fine with it, but I can clearly notice he is," and at last remark he pointed to Fox's grin, to call Krystal happy now would be an understatement as she basically jumped over Fox... Hugging him I mean...

Pepper coughed lightly behind his paw to get the couple's attention, "I guess you two should be off then... And be ready, I might have another mission ready for you in a couple of days" he ended and saluted, Fox and Krystal did the same and boarded their own Arwing, then took off... Pepper sighed and started walking away with a small chuckle.

Back in her Arwing Krystal wasn't paying attention to anything at all... Not that she needed to, the auto-pilot was driving them back to the Star Fox 'HQ'. She was looking up through the cockpit at the sky until she was taken back to reality by Fox's voice, she looked down and noticed the open com-link.

"So how about a romantic dinner to celebrate your success in..." Fox paused to look at the small computer on his right-hand glove, "About 3 hours?"

Krystal smiled, "That would be great!" she answered wholeheartedly.

A couple of minutes later both Arwings docked inside the Great Fox which was just a couple of meters away from the Star Fox 'HQ'. Fox and Krystal walked together.

Just as they entered Krystal got Fox's attention, "I'm going to take a small nap in the meantime", she kissed Fox in the cheek, smiled, and walked away towards the stairs. While going up them she met Peppy, but only raised her right paw to greet him as both continued their paths. Krystal then entered the room Fox had 'assigned' her.

"How did it go?" asked Peppy while he sat down on a couch on the wall next to the stairs. Fox grabbed a chair from the nearby table and sat with the back of the chair in front of him, he rested his two arms over the back of the chair.

"She did wonderfully!", pause... "Ok, had a small mistake but nothing serious, Pepper then gave her the rundown and we came back after that" another pause. Fox made an audible breathe as he moved the chair a little, "Pepper said he might have another mission any of these days though," Peppy nodded.

"That's good... For Krystal I mean" said Peppy. Fox then stared off into space for a couple of seconds before he got up, grabbed the chair and dropped it off where it originally was, he lifted his left paw towards Peppy signaling a 'bye' of sorts before he headed upstairs, leaving a rather confused hare in the living room.

On top of the stairs Fox pauses for a bit in front of the door of Krystal's room, he knocked softly, then waited for an answer that never came. He opened the door quietly and peered into the darkness of the room, Krystal had apparently shut off the curtains of the window. Fox closed the door behind him as quietly as he had opened it and stood there for a couple of seconds before he adjusted his sight to the darkness of the room. He then walked forward towards Krystal's bed, where she currently laid below the covers, Fox looked sideways and saw the clothes she was wearing hung on a perch in the corner, leaving him wondering just how fast she undressed and fell asleep...

He shook the thought as he gazed as the vixen, kneeled, then passed his right paw slightly across Krystal's forehead. He then remained there kneeling gazing at her face until he reluctantly got up and walked towards the door, leaving it silently. Just as he closed the door behind him Peppy turned around a corner and frowned at him, Fox shrugged, "What?", Peppy shook his head slightly and both parted their ways.

Peppy had turned around another corner and quickly entered a room while Fox went down the stairs and headed outside. He took in a big breath of the fresh air and started walking towards the sun hiding behind a hill a couple of minutes away of walk through an endless meadow, he started going up until he got the top, the hill wasn't big at all, but it ended as a cliff and plummeted meters down. On top of the hill was a rather big tree, he pressed his right paw on it, and then sat on the edge of the cliff, laid back, looked up the burning orange sky and dozed off with his arms crossed over his chest...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Back in the Star Fox 'HQ', a few hours had passed already and things were pretty quiet, especially since Slippy had gone out since early morning and Falco was rarely sighted there anymore. Peppy had gone down again, with a rather big book this time, and sat on the same sofa as before before he started reading it. He looked towards the clock and realized he had been down there one and a half hours already... Not that it mattered though, he had nothing to do. The unnerving quietness of the house was disrupted when a door closed upstairs, of couple of seconds later a rather sleepy vixen was down the stairs in her uniform again, having no set of clothing to wear around the house save for her 'favorite' one. She spotted Peppy on the sofa, yawned and walked to another sofa in front of that particular one separated by a small table, she then sat down on it and laid her head back.

Peppy closed his book a few seconds later and looked up, "Slept well?" Krystal raised her head, "Yeah, I guess the flight stressed me a little..." she said in her usual smile, "Fox said it went quite well" answered back Peppy as he put his book on the table and both started talking...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Back outside around the same time a fox moaned slightly into the air, then groaned a little. A top a cliff laid a fox sleeping, or was until this moment as he groggily opened his eyes and stifled a yawn, he remained there for a couple of seconds before he used his hands to support himself as he got up, crawled a little away the cliff and got up. He stretched along with a long audible yawn and then started walking down the hill, he looked back and barely caught a glimpse of Solar hiding behind a mountain.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Just a couple of minutes later the main door in the Star Fox 'HQ' opened as Fox walked in hearing Krystal and Peppy laughing. Upon reaching the vicinity of both he just frowned. "Just telling some funny anecdotes of when I was in the orphanage back as a kit" explained Krystal quickly, Fox simply answered "Oh" as he sat next to Krystal. "She is not exactly a disciplinary model," said Peppy as Krystal grinned mischievously, Fox laughed a little at the remark. "Yeah, I've heard a couple of stories from her".

After a few more words Krystal got up, "Well, I'm gonna take a quick shower to get ready" she smiled in her usual fashion and left up the stairs. Fox grabbed the remote out of the table and turned on a TV resting over a piece of furniture on the left-most wall, not far away from where he was. He didn't actually raised the volume since he guessed Peppy was going to resume his reading. He just wanted to check a quick thing though. He flipped through the channels quickly and stopped in one showing what appeared to be a news report. Sure enough, what he had expected was there. Well... They just said there had been some activity in Titania lately, they didn't knew the source of it... They... A couple of minutes went in silence as Fox stared up into the ceiling, Peppy just flipped page after page until Fox snapped back to reality.

"I'm just gonna check a thing or two before heading out," and he got up, Peppy just hummed in agreement but kept reading, Fox walked up the stairs silently and entered his room to get ready.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

An hour later Fox was already down, he had decided to wear his uniform instead of some fancy clothing considering Krystal had none and he thought that would be better. He was sitting against the bar on the kitchen when he heard some steps behind him, he turned around and gazed at his love. Krystal smiled as Fox got up, Krystal planted a quick kiss and drew Fox out of the house as they started walking away through the night, holding hands.

After a couple of minutes of silent and nervous walking Fox took Krystal to an outdoor, but very nice looking restaurant. "I always liked this place, great service and the food is good too, hope you'll like it," said Fox, "I'm sure I will," answered Krystal. They walked towards the receptionist, a yellow pinkish female poodle of sorts, wearing the usual waiter uniform, she looked up from the book that was on the stand and addressed the fox.

"May I help you?" she asked in a low cordial tone, "I called about an hour ago, left a reservation on the name of Fox McCloud," the poodle looked down at the book and flipped a page. "Yes, here you are, please wait a moment while we get your table ready," she finished and walked away.

Just a couple of seconds later she came back, "Please follow me to your table." Both Fox and Krystal followed her, the table was around the corner, the small table, big enough to perfectly hold 2 persons held a burning candle, the flame gently swaying. "Thanks," said both foxes as the poodle walked away.

Fox pulled back Krystal's chair as she slid in, then Fox pushed it back in place, he took his seat after that. "The place looks good," started Krystal, "It's perfect whether you are alone or not. And wait until you see the menu," and to that, Fox grinned, Krystal frowned. Just in that moment someone came close, it was yet another dog, this one was a Siberian husky of sorts, wearing a simple tux/smoking as the usual waiter, he did looked odd wearing even more black and white because of his fur. He was holding two menus, which he gave to Krystal and then to Fox. He then flipped open a small notebook, "May I take your order?" he asked.

Krystal opened the menu, flipped to the other side and stared in awe, there had to be at least 20 or more different dishes that included fish! She looked through them quickly, Fox looked up to the waiter without even opening his menu, "I'll take a Stuffed Trout in Wine Sauce, please," he asked. "And for the lady?" the dog asked, "Hmm... So many choices, I don't know... Oh wait, this looks good, I'll have a Salmon in Herb Parcels," she said.

The waiter noted both orders down, "What would you like for beverages?" he asked. "You like white wine?" Fox asked, "What best to drink when eating fish besides white wine," Krystal smiled. "Alright, bring me the best bottle of white wine you have of this price..." Fox said as he wrote a number on a small piece of paper and handed it to the waiter. "Very well, your food will be ready in some minutes," the waiter bowed somewhat and left to the inside of the building.

"How much are you spending on the wine?" asked Krystal curiously. "That's a secret," Fox hummed teasingly, and Krystal whined, "That's not fair". Fox chuckled a little and then both calmed down.

"By the way, I guess I should be telling you I'm expecting Pepper to call any minute now, I'm quite sure he'll want me to go back to Titania tomorrow..." Fox started, "I'm going with you," Krystal cut in determined.

"You serious? This time I don't think its just going to be a 'go in and look' one... As far as I know Pepper, he'll want me to do something to hinder them or the like," he continued, Krystal pondered on that one. "Even so, I want to help you, that's one of the reasons I joined the Star Fox, that, and to be with... you," she blushed partly and continued, "But as dangerous it might be, I'm going with you," she ended.

Fox smiled, "Well, even if I said no I'm sure you would have tagged along, but it's good knowing I'll have you supporting me." They changed the subject, leaving all that for tomorrow, or the day they would need to and started to talk about random things... Fox's life in Corneria, how was her doing with her new life, and stuff like that. After around 10 minutes the same husky dog came back with a tray, he placed it in a nearby, unoccupied table and put the dish each one had ordered, along with a small stand on the side of the table with a bucket of ice, where the bottle of white wine rested. He placed two small cups, one for each fox and grabbed the bottle, he opened the bottle with a little of effort and poured some of the liquid into both cups. The husky dog bowed again and left the couple to eat...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Both had already finished and were already in front of the Star Fox HQ, Fox opened the door and Krystal walked in. They were talking joyously, Peppy got close to both foxes, "Sorry to cut in guys, but Pepper called, he didn't said much, but told me to give you this," to that, he handed Fox a brown large envelope. Peppy took a couple of steps away.

Fox opened the brown envelope and pulled out a long letter, he and Krystal started reading it... After one minute or so, "You were right..." said Krystal, "I told you he was going to ask for this," added Fox.

"What is he asking you to do?" asked Peppy from away, "In short, sneak in and try to sabotage or gather vital information to counter this so-called bio weapon," Fox answered back, "And he wants us to leave early," he added.

"I guess I'm going to call it a night then," said Krystal as she yawned behind her right paw, "Goodnight," she added, both males said back the same, Krystal then kissed Fox squarely in the lips at the same time she mouthed a small "Thank you," and left, leaving Fox in another plane. The sound of the closing door upstairs snapped Fox back into reality.

"I'm not going to say anything..." commented Peppy, "Good... Anyway, I guess I'm turning in as well, I never liked feeling sleepy in a mission..." said Fox as he lifted his left paw in a 'bye' manner and left upstairs as well, Peppy headed towards the kitchen.

Fox looked at Krystal's room door, but decided not to bother her for now, it was rather late, they didn't went back home after dinner, instead they went for a long, quiet walk. So they were somewhat tired, Fox entered his room, he shed most of his clothing, ending in a pair of boxers and a small shirt as he lifted the covers, jumped in, and focused on sleeping.

It was going to be a wild day tomorrow, he knew that... And he didn't liked the feeling... He never had...

* * *

Alan- Well did that take long!  
Krystal- No kidding...  
Alan- Not my fault, school has been rather hard lately... 

Anyway, I'm not really going to say much right now, I'm starting the next chapter possibly during this weekend, but with me, you never know...  
So anyway, good luck in life and review!

The °s are just a temporary measure while I figure just what the heck is wrong with FF.net lately... They blocked the asterisks and tildes in my latest entries... So until either this is fixed, or I know for sure it's permanent...

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510hotmail.com  
Until next time!

Chapter 6: Into the Enemy Base!


	6. Into the Enemy Base

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]  
Just read on.

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance story about Fox and Krystal. And some added plot because the author sucks trying to write stories without any adventure or action. (Trust me, I tried once, it didn't end well...)

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 6 - Into the Enemy Base!_

* * *

A dark metallic hallway. Silence... Silence... Fast footsteps started to echo into the long metallic hallway. After a little while, dozens of footsteps could be heard as well. Two figures stepped into a round room, a brown fox wearing a pair of baggy gray pants, a green shirt with a gray vest on top of it, behind him, was a blue vixen, who had a pair of white pants, a white blouse with a black loose jacket, adorned with golden shoulder-pads, with sandals in gold color as well. 

They were panting heavily as they ran, they went to a halt and the vixen kneeled as she almost tripped, the fox helped her up quickly and they continued running as the footsteps behind them got louder.

They entered a wide open room, unfortunately it was a dead end. Feeling the inevitable they held each other close and looked into their eyes. Ten lizard looking soldiers, wearing full red armor, from boots to helmets and holding a rifle appeared, the first five kneeled and the other remained standing behind them with rifles ready. The fox threw them an angry look and looked back at the vixen, she looked at him, then lowered her head for a second, raised it again, and smiled, shedding a tear, both from happiness and fear.

The sound of the rifles shooting alerted both foxes but they didn't turned around, time seemed to slow down as the bullets flew through the air. The life of both flashed through their eyes after the moment they met... The dog fox staring at the vixen encased in a crystal... The same image but the vixen already released and overjoyed... Both foxes sitting of a cliff watching the sun down... A vast wasteland and both embracing each other in a kiss... But it was all over, the bullets aimed at them pierced through their skin and both were sent to the floor, the fox landed with his stomach and the vixen upside-down on her back. The fox tried extending a hand to the vixen but lacked the strength. The vixen looked at him, another tear flew, and she mouthed an "I love you, Fox..." and she closed here eyes, the fox was scared but the feeling wouldn't last long as life seemed to betray him, his hand fell to the floor before it could find the hand of his lover...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

A figure in the darkness jumped in bed in a second and was panting heavily, shook his head to shake the feeling then looked around in disbelief. "The heck..." the person muttered and threw the covers aside, wearing only a pair of grey boxers and a white shirt it walked out of the room. The light from the moon crawling through the window made the person recognizable, a brown/red fox. He had managed to calm his breathing a little by now, he silently opened the door in front of him and peered in the darkness, in the middle on the bed laid a blue vixen sleeping, he let out a sigh of relief at the sight and then closed to the door as he made his way down the stairs close-by.

He kept walking until he reached the kitchen, he took a clean glass from the sink and poured some water into it, he drank it. He poured some more but didn't drank it at the time, he just held the glass as he walked away towards a pair of big windows, which lead to the backyard of the place. He opened them and took a step out, the cold breeze made his fur tingle for just a little, he looked upwards to the moon. _That was some dream... _He thought, he then looked shocked in his place. _God I hope it's not a premonition... That's the reason why I don't want to bring her... I don't want her to get hurt... But she insists, and I can't convince her, nor can I simply leave her behind without saying something... But... Part of me does want her to come; not only is she a great help, she gave me hope back in Dinosaur Planet and I'm quite sure it will be the same this time... _He took a couple of drinks from the glass. _I guess I'll just have to do my best to keep that from happening... _He continued, he raised the glass for a drink but found none left, he took a last breath of the fresh air and walked back inside, locked the windows behind him, he then placed the glass besides the sink and walked back upstairs, he hesitated for a second to open Krystal's room door again but decided against it, he just entered his room and crawled to bed, the dream still playing in his mind...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Solar shone through space as the light engulfed Corneria again as a new day started. Having forgotten to close the window shutters, twice, the light hit directly into a slumbering fox's head, he groaned and opened his eyes, but quickly drew the covers over him to shield himself from the light. He yawned and got up a few seconds later wearing a pair of grey boxers and a white shirt. He left the room and made his way downstairs, he turned left and instead of going to the kitchen he entered another room in front, after a few seconds he was carrying a set of clothes, he walked back up and entered the door opposite his room, as he had expected, Krystal was still sleeping, without making noise, he carried the clothes and left them on a chair by a corner. Then walked outside, he entered his room and opened a small closet, most of it was casual clothing, a few fancy sets, and at the end a couple of uniforms in the same look. He simply took one and entered the bathroom.

The shower sound started, and he started to get ready for what seemed to be a long day. He left the shower and after a while of drying his fur he could also hear another shower in the distance, he finished and dressed up in the same uniform as usual. He left the bathroom, the room and walked down the stairs.

He saw Peppy was already in the kitchen, possibly fixing up breakfast, he turned around, "Morning Fox," "Morning," Fox answered back. Fox sat at the table, the sound of the other shower had stopped a while ago, but it was never easy drying so much fur to begin with. "Breakfast should be ready in a while," said Peppy, Fox just hummed. After a few minutes, Fox simply kept staring at space, he didn't even notice the closing door upstairs, as Krystal made her way down. She sat in front of Fox, waved her paw in front of his eyes, which made him snap back. "Oh, morning Krys," "Morning." Pause... "2 things; Krys? And why does my clothes feel slightly... different?"

"I just though Krys sounded better, I can call you Krystal if you wish though. I washed your clothes, I couldn't seem to sleep yesterday so I decided to do some stuff around here, which reminds me you need to buy some casual clothing..." Fox explained. Krystal nodded, "I'm fine with Krys or Krystal," she added.

Peppy cut in and placed two small dishes in the table, Fox and Krystal got up to get a glass, Fox poured in some orange juice from a bottle inside the fridge, Krystal opted for water instead. Peppy also sat down, with a glass of juice as well. "Did Slippy said when he'll get back?" asked Fox, Slippy had left since they came back to Corneria, had to 'check' some things... "He called in before, should be here in an hour or so," Peppy replied back, Fox nodded and started eating.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

An hour later everything was ready, the trip wasn't exactly short, so they had to take the Great Fox out as well, still, Slippy had to a last minute check-up, it was just a standard routine by now.

"Well, everything's ready, we are good to go!" announced Slippy, the rest nodded and boarded the Great Fox, the Arwings had always been inside it, so no trouble there. Rob was already inside, and greeted the team with it's robotic voice, everyone sat in their usual chair in the cockpit, Krystal taking Falco's place for now, and in a few seconds, the Great Fox started going up, then sped up and left the Cornerian planet's atmosphere.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Silent and vast outer space... Through all the windows of the Great Fox only darkness illuminated by white dots could be seen, among a few planets as well. And this was the only sight around there, especially when on an Arwing, but one got used to it... And there wasn't too much time to be sightseeing while fighting.

"I'm gonna take a look around the place, I've been here only once before after all," said Krystal once the ship had stabilized, she unbuckled her belt and walked as Fox hummed in acknowledgement. There wasn't exactly too much to see aboard the Great Fox, but she had the feeling she would be boarding this place for quite a long time. _Better get used to it now..._

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Course set to Titania," Robo announced just as he and Slippy had finished the calculations, usually there wasn't much to do, but Meteo had been active lately, so they had to be careful to avoid the place unless they wanted a warm-up.

"Well, I'm heading down," announced Fox as he also got up, Peppy, who was already at the front of the cockpit, looked back at him, "Krystal?" he suggested, Fox shook his head, "Nah, I'll leave her be for now, I don't think she is quite used to this kind of situation, and I suppose she could use the time by herself. I'm heading down to the cabin," Peppy nodded. The cabin was basically the social area of the Great Fox, or at least the main of them.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Krystal walked through the lower corridors of the Great Fox, she crossed a pair of metallic doors as she entered the docking bay. Only three Arwings rested in there at the time; that, and a lot of empty space. She grabbed her staff, which was currently in its 'pocket' form resting behind her waist, she focused for a second and the staff grew to its usual size. She closed her eyes and started taking slower and deeper breaths, without opening her eyes she swung at the air in front of her in an upside-down fashion, she flipped it and then thrust it behind her, she stopped for a second and then continued attacking her own targets while 'blinded' to regain any lost experience, if any; she hoped she wouldn't need to fight on Titania, but knew it was going to be inevitable.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Fox walked through the corridors of the Great Fox, he stood in front of 2 metallic sliding doors, after a second they opened to reveal a rather large room, most of the 'walls' were actually windows, and a red carpet covered the whole floor. On the left side was a small kitchen, not far from there was a round table for around 6 persons at max. Fox took a couple of steps in and the doors closed behind him, he stood there for a second before he walked to the end of the room, standing right before the thick glass which served as wall/window and simply looked into outer space, he soon managed to make out the Meteo system, the light Sector Y produced could be distinguished to the other side.

He took a couple of steps back and headed towards the middle of the room, a couple of couches around a glass square table were there, he sat in one and started going through his previous dream again, he drifted away to sleep...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

A few hours later, the Great Fox had already gone through Meteo and Sector X, Titania was closer with every second. Krystal, after having inquired about Fox back in the cockpit headed down to the Cabin, where she spotted Fox slumbering in a couch, she sat besides him.

"Fox...?" she poked him slightly in the left shoulder, Fox did nothing. "Fox...?" she repeated slightly stronger, Fox mumbled something, Krystal sighed theatrically and drew Fox into a passionate kiss. Needless to say, he awoke abruptly, startled mainly but quickly regained his composure, Krystal let go of him. "Now that's a way to wake someone up!" said Fox with a short laugh, Krystal giggled, "Well, you refused to wake up, might as well use the occasion. We are nearing Titania, so we better get ready," she said as she got up, Fox followed her. Both left the room and headed back to the cockpit.

Once there Peppy looked at Fox, "We are just a few minutes away, you should get going," Fox nodded, "Right, you know what you have to do, we'll use the distraction as our chance to get in then," Slippy jumped in, "Just leave the 'finer details' to us," he said with a roguish grin as he tinkered with the control panel next to him.

"You ready, Krys?" Fox asked, Krystal nodded, "Anytime," both looked back at the rest of the 'crew' and then headed out of the room.

"You think they'll be alright?" asked Slippy, "If anyone can do this, it's Fox," answered back Peppy, both let out a sigh and resumed what they were doing.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Basically, once we get down there I'll signal back and they will let out a small-scale attack on the surface of the base to create a distraction so we can sneak in with minor problems, course they might be alert afterwards but it definitely beats taking them out as we go and then assuring them someone is inside..." explained Fox as Krystal trailed alongside him, "And exactly what are we doing once we are in?" Fox hummed afterwards, "Well, mainly try not to be discovered, other than that pretty much what Pepper asked us to, either gain vital information on how to counter this weapon or sabotage it somehow, which is short for simply delaying it while we do something against it..." They reached the hangar after that, "Right," said Krystal as she and Fox boarded their own Arwing, after a few buttons and seconds the Great Fox opened the 'door' so they could take off. Course set to Titania...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The ride through space was...dull to say the least. Both Fox and Krystal didn't said anything at all as they flew down, which didn't take much anyway. They landed at least 500 meters away what appeared the surface of the encampment of the Venomian research group. Both jumped out of their Arwings shortly after that, Krystal secured her staff in a strap around her right thigh, Fox simply carried a small laser gun to the left of his waist, and a small knife hidden in his right leg. Both started walking towards the encampment.

100 meters away, both hiding behind a large pile of sand, Fox spoke up into the small computer on his right arm, "Peppy, we are ready, commence the attack anytime, over and out," and he cut the communication with the Great Fox. "Now we just have to wait..." said Fox as he sat with his back against the sand and looking away, Krystal did the same, a minute later or so, a sudden flash of light, not to mention the sound of various missiles exploding alerted them, both got up and dashed at full speed. Fox pulled his gun and Krystal grabbed her staff. 80 meters.... 60 meters... 40 meters... 20 meters... The missiles kept raining destruction on the surface, Fox and Krystal rushed through avoiding both enemy sentries and the missiles.

The encampment was big, there were various shelters, small towers and lots of sentries around. Fox quickly rushed between two shelters while motioning to Krystal to do so as well, just as they did various lizard looking soldier rushed through where they had been seconds ago, the space was rather reduced and they had to move sideways, Fox tapped on Krystal's right shoulder and motioned with his head to the right. Both tried to get to the other side, Fox quickly moved out, spun to the opposite direction and fired his gun, taking out a distracted lizard soldier, Krystal followed, she avoided the sight of the soldier.

Fox crouched there and looked at the small computer in his right hand as a small hologram appeared, he quickly slapped himself in the forehead, "Why must be lizards be cold-blooded..." he said, the small hologram showed up heat in the nearby areas, obviously not useful to detect cold-blood...

"Fox watch out!" yelled Krystal as Fox looked forward, a lizard was holding a rifle aimed at them from at least 15 meters away, Krystal quickly jumped back in-between both shelters and Fox rolled sideways avoiding part of the gunfire as he answered back, taking the enemy in one shot. "They must know of our presence by now, things are going to get rough..." said Fox as Krystal went back out, "Well, nothing can be done for now," he took a gaze of the field in front, there was a different structure not far ahead, about 40 meters away, before that just open field, "Don't look back, don't look to the sides, do not stop under any circumstance and just run!" said Fox as he sprinted forward at full speed, Krystal, shocked to say the least quickly followed as best as she could, at least 3 seconds after Fox dashed gunfire could be heard, both foxes could spot flying bullets here and there, wishing that no bullet struck them.

Just before Fox could reach the other structure a bullet zinged by his right leg, it pierced through the clothing but only 'burned' the back of his leg, just below the knee, no big damage, but it was bleeding a little, Fox yelped, and quickly crouched as he reached the other structure, Krystal, once on the other side expanded her staff, spun in her spot and sent a giant fireball towards the structure they had first hid behind, creating a small diversion, she retracted her staff and crouched besides Fox, "Let me see the wound," she said, Fox waved his hand in front of her, "It's nothing serious, just a small burn, it didn't hit me, I'll take care of it once we are in," he said as he got up with a small snarl, Krystal quickly placed his left hand around her to support him as they went around the structure to get to the entrance, it was a white metallic-looking building, it was huge to say the less, easily the main building of the whole camp.

Fox peered around the corner to make sure nothing was there, the missiles had stopped coming down, but they served their purpose well, Fox let go of Krystal and sprinted somewhat, the gray fabric on his pants were tainted with red a little more with each step, Krystal grimaced at the sight but dismissed it as she trailed behind Fox, occasionally looking behind, "They must have moved all their patrols to the most damaged parts..." said Fox looking sideways, after half of minute or so of fast-paced walking and a few snarls they reached the other side, Fox peered around the corner but quickly moved away. Various footsteps could be heard as some guards moved towards the damaged area, after a few seconds the sounds died, Fox peered around again, most sentries were at least 70 meters away, and not looking back, he motioned to Krystal with his right hand and they quickly moved towards the only entrance of that particular facility. They suspected it was the same building they had entered the previous time...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"What's the situation?" asked a lizard to another, quite possibly of higher rank. "20% of the facilities were completely destroyed, half of the rest were severely damaged, sir!"

The first lizard sighed, "This will delay our research a while, Scales won't be pleased..."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°° (Writing style change, long story)

Fox held his gun close to his chest as Krystal tightened her grip on the staff, the illumination, if this was the same building, was now a little better, they were in one big room, with two corridors, one on each side. Fox moved silently to the left one as Krystal followed, she gazed into the right one and saw nothing, mainly due to the darkness, both foxes moved into the corridor trying to make as less noise as possible...

Fox made a motion for Krystal to stay in her place as Fox walked with his back to the wall to the end of the corridor, it was actually a T-junction, one path going right and the other forward. Fox peeked his head around the corner but saw only a small path with 2 doors. One on the right wall, on the left, and in the middle at the bottom. Fox turned his head around and was about to signal Krystal to follow but he spotted a Sharpclaw behind Krystal.

"Krystal, get down!" Fox ordered as he drew his blaster and fired once Krystal had ducked. The beam sizzled the Sharpclaw's chest as he dropped motionlessly.

"What's a Sharpclaw doing here?" Krystal asked as she bent over to look at the body of the Sharpclaw. Once she was sure it was downed she got up and trailed to Fox.

"Well, we knew Scales was back. Even though so far I've only seen Venomian sentries, I haven't heard anything of Andross," Fox scratched behind his right ear as he led Krystal down to the far-most door as he continued, "But I think it's too soon for Andross to make a reappearance. Way too soon."

"So what do you think this is all about?" Krystal said as Fox tried opening the door but didn't budge. She tapped him in the shoulder and Fox promptly moved aside as Krystal drew a electric lock-pick from her vest's inner pocket and fiddled with the electronic look as she opened it after a try or two. To Fox's pondering lock she simply said, "I was very mischievous remember? I learned to do these kind of things back a long time ago."

"Right," Fox nodded as he opened the door and pointed his blaster to the left and Krystal went back-to-back with Fox pointing her staff to the right. The room was clear and both left their stances as they closed the door.

The room was in the same metallic blue as the rest of the inner part of the building. The place was filled with various mainframes, apparently they had hit the center of operations, or so they wished. Fox approached one of the mainframes.

"Krystal, keep an eye on the place for me while I look around these files please," Fox said as Krystal nodded, placed her right hand on his right shoulder for a second before she moved back to the door and kept her vulpine senses at its highest point.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any mention of Andross here, but there's a lot on Scales... So I was wrong, they aren't allying, heck, Andross hasn't even reappeared... I guess Scales is taking revenge since a Cornerian foiled his plans," Fox started and was cut off.

"And the one he wants the most... He... wants to finish what he started in Cerinia several years ago," Krystal said with a slight choke but dismissed it, she couldn't really break up in the middle of this place. Fox decided not to further inquire as he downloaded some of the information of the computer into his wristcomp.

"Well, I'm done here, we should be able to use this as a countermeasure but we still have some stuff to do around this place," Fox commented as he walked back to the door, opened and poked outside, he motioned Krystal to hold her ground as well as he walked further to look at both sides of the t-junction path. He motioned Krystal to follow and she trailed to him barely making noise.

Both foxes moved into the other corridor of the junction and found no one on the other side as well. Fox made a shocked motion as he spotted a surveillance camera turning in their direction, "Hurry!" he yelled to Krystal as she grabbed her by the arm and pulled her right below the camera and flattened both himself and her to the wall. Certain cameras, such as this one, have blind spots right below them; Fox had been taught this a lot time ago running through a simulated stealth course.

Once the camera was looking in the direction they came from, both sprinted to the other side and bent at the corner. This one, also being free from enemy sentries simply led to more doors. One on the right and another on the left. Taking the right door both foxes stumbled upon a large set of stairs leading down.

Having taken the steps down, a glass breaking sound echoed through the room and both foxes pointed their weapons in the same direction. They sighed a moment later and walked as silently as possible. On the north side of the room (According to Fox's compass on his wristcomp) was a double set of doors, not totally locked and two voices could be heard having a conversation.

"So what is it that we are doing again?" the first voice asked and a sighed was heard to which it continued, "I can't simply get this stuff in my head for some reason," it hissed, giving a hint to another Sharpclaw.

"You numbskull... How many times do I have to brief you on this?" the other voice sounded quite annoyed. "They are bullets, simple like that. The catch is that they only affect warm-blood animals almost instantly killing them, or driving them to point of insanity before death. If used on a cold-blood animal it would act like a regular bullet." Krystal silently gasped behind her paw as Fox raised an eyebrow.

"So Corneria is mostly inhabited by warm-blood animals?"

"Pretty much. According to our records they make at least 90% of the population, but I really doubt the rest would join the opposing forces," the second voice ended.

"Come on Krystal, let's see if we can do something somewhere else," Fox whispered to Krystal's ear who nodded and followed Fox across the room, which lead to yet another set of stairs going down right besides the ones heading upwards.

It was even darker down here. Fox drew a pocket light from his pants and shot a small ray of light to their front as they walked through the very straight-forward path. The more they walked, the louder a buzzing sound. At the end was another double set of doors with a large notice that read 'Power Room. Exert extreme caution.'

The opened the door and looked around at all the machines moving to power the facility, and all the nearby ones.

"I fear we don't have too much time left before we are discovered, so might as well take the easy way here and then run for our lives," Fox announced as he drew his blasted and aimed at the main switch, "Try blowing up that machine over there," he said pointing his left hand index in the opposite direction. Krystal hummed and prepared her staff.

Fox shot a couple of lasers at the switch and the connecting cables, at the same time Krystal threw a giant fireball to the other, which exploded in contact leaving it in a rather bad shape. Fox planted a small bomb on a console that was nearby, "Alright, now lets get the heck out of here!" he said as both foxes sprinted back through the darkness.

They went up the first set of stairs but already found some resistance. A small group composed out of 6 Sharpclaws.

"Let's just end this quickly. Krystal?"

"You got it!" she yelled a little too enthusiastic as she flung a fireball making all of the Sharpclaws turn into blue spirits before disappearing. Both resumed their escape, meeting no resistance in the corridors as they left the building.

"Hmm..." Krystal hummed as she spotted the Sharpclaw line in front of them. "What now?" she whispered.

"Don't worry, if I guessed correctly, this should do the trick," Fox said as he pressed a button in his wristcomp and an explosion below then erupted, shaking all the Sharpclaws out of their balance, "Now!" Fox yelled as both foxes went into mad dash. Fox shooting blind rays at his back as he saw a ray or two fly by to their sides. They finally left the encampment and rushed to where they left their Arwings.

They lost no time boarding them and took off.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Fox opened a channel to the Great Fox. "Peppy here."

"Peppy, we are on our way back to the Great Fox, ask ROB to ready the standard docking procedures."

"Working on it," Peppy said, "Peppy out." Fox then closed all communications to the Great Fox and opened a channel with Krystal's Arwing.

"Krystal?"

"Yes?"

"Back in the computer room, you mentioned that you are what Scales 'wants the most'... What did you meant by that?" Fox asked, he knew it was a sensitive spot in Krystal's past, but knowing why would probably help him protect her better. He hoped Krystal knew that.

Krystal hung her head for a second, "Remember how I told Cerinia exploded?" Fox nodded, "Well, I later found out Scales was the responsible for all of it. But not only did he murder my family, he also destroyed the planet completely..." she choked in her own words.

"Krystal, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand. This obviously brings back a lot of painful memories," Fox cut her off, beating himself in his mind for asking that in the first place.

Krystal shook her head, "No, I want you to know. And I have to let go of the past. I have to get my revenge on Scales as well," she inhaled in deeply trying to calm down, "I found out later. Only just a little after my fifteenth birthday through a news report. Cerinia and Karenia had very good connections and they had taken up the task on finding the reason of Cerinia's demise," she took another breath.

"And you are the lone survivor of the planet. So Scales wants to finish what he started, right?"

"Yes. He said so to me when I first encountered him on a flying vessel not long after I had arrived on Dinosaur Planet," she paused for a bit. "And he came close to it. While he couldn't harm me directly while I was encased in that crystal back there, he drained my life force for his own intentions, but then you came," she ended with a smile. Fox blushed a little under his russet-gold fur.

"We are about to dock in the Great Fox, I'm closing communication. See you in a minute," Fox said as Krystal returned a smile and the channel closed. _'Scales, I swear you'll pay... And dearly... Very, very dearly...' _Fox snarled.

* * *

Alan- Finally! I have no idea why I left this out for so long.  
Krystal- Staff in hands ready I should really hit you for that long wait.  
Alan- But I've seen wo... [whack]  
Krystal- No excuses. Besides, I always wanted to do that. [wide grin]  
Alan- Oww... I kept my word, you aren't really being hurt in the story, so why you hurt me?  
Krystal- You put this off for quite some time, I was starting to get impatient.  
Alan- Yeah right... Remind you I have the destiny of this story in my hands, so you shouldn't treat me badly. [smug face]  
Krystal- Nah, you are just like Fox. Can't resist anything that comes out of my mouth. [grin]  
Alan- [Shakes head] This can't be good... Nonetheless, I still control this story...  
Krysta-l Well, the sooner you get on with the next chapter, the better. 

So that's it for this chapter. Should start the next one considering I already had the main scene planned...   
Well, have a nice time in life and don't forget to review anything you wish for me to revise, change, alter or whatever as long as I see it necessary.

And anyone know why FF.net suddenly 'banned' the use of asterisks and the tilde?  
The odd thing is, while entry 4 and 5 of this were also affected and they were uploaded way before April 23, in which another of my entries in another story is unaffected but later on, one in May 24 was affected... [Rolls eyes] This sucks...

(Side note: Ok, for some reason I started to say Katina instead of Titania... Don't know what the heck happened there... But it's all been fixed...)

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510hotmail.com  
Until next time!

Chapter 7: Preparations.


	7. Preparations

Star Fox Adventures and all it's characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]  
Just read on.

Anyway, if you can't assume from the title of the story, this is a romance story about Fox and Krystal. And some added plot because the author sucks trying to write stories without any adventure or action. (Trust me, I tried once, it didn't end well...)

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 7 - Preparations._

* * *

Fox climbed out of his Arwing and quickly moved to Krystal's and helped her climb down. She mouthed a small "Thank you," as both proceeded to left the hangar and head back to the cabin. 

The walk through the various corridors went uneventful and in total silence. Fox simply trying to keep his anger towards a certain reptilian to a low degree so that it wouldn't be noticeable, while Krystal was going through the conversation she had heard in Titania about this new weapon.

Finally, after 5 minutes of total silence both foxes reached the cabin where Peppy and Slippy welcomed them. It was already late and they figured Pepper had already left his post in the Cornerian Army Base.

"You are back sooner than I had expected," Peppy started as he got up from the couch and walked towards Fox.

"I guess we got lucky and found what we needed without too much problems. I'm surprised the defense was lacking in the building however," Fox replied as he moved to the table where he pulled a chair for Krystal who gladly accepted and sat. Peppy and Fox did the same only to be joined by Slippy a couple of seconds later.

"We really didn't had problems at all. The worst was that Fox got a burn from a zinging bullet in his right leg, but other than that, things went pretty smooth," Krystal looked upwards for a second, "I expected things to go a lot worse if you ask me."

"So what did you found out after all?" Slippy asked as he supported his head on his hands, whose elbows where on the table, he moved slightly forward at the inquire.

"I guess it's better if we go through all of that tomorrow when we contact Pepper," Fox said as he tilted his head in Slippy's direction.

Peppy nodded, "You are probably right, you should be tired."

Krystal lowered her head to gaze in the direction Peppy was, "With all the running, a little... I wouldn't mind taking a shower to clear off all this orange dust off my fur," she was abruptly cut by a small sound emanating from her abdomen, "But now my stomach says I'm hungry..." The rest laughed.

"I'll fix you something quickly," Peppy got up and started heading to the kitchen on their right, "Any preferences in particular?"

"Did the automatic dispenser had a problem?" Fox asked finding it odd that Peppy was going to cook aboard the Great Fox since he usually only did so back at Corneria.

Slippy nodded, "Yeah, I haven't been able to find the reason, and with the ship being out in space I can't really check too well. First thing on my list when we get back to Corneria."

"Oh well, the usual please," Fox said looking to Peppy. Krystal tugged from his tail to draw his attention.

"Any suggestions?" she asked, Fox shrugged.

"I don't know, just mention something to Peppy and let him surprise you."

"Right," Krystal lowered her sight to the floor and thought, "Well, I could really use something with some meat for energy," she looked at Peppy.

He placed a finger in front of his mouth as he thought, "Alright, you just sit back. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Both foxes nodded with a "Thanks."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 

Half an hour later, both Fox and Krystal were already retiring to their own rooms to take a shower and then sleep.

Fox had accompanied Krystal to her room. With a small goodbye kiss, Krystal entered her room and Fox walked away to his own.

At least an hour later, and with a slightly damp fur coat, both foxes finally slept, forgetting for now about the upcoming war.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The next morning Fox had once again overslept. Krystal had already changed and just as she thought, she saw Fox sleeping in his bed with the covers all sprawled around. She sighed theatrically yet again after seeing him like this and approached the slumbering vulpine. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"Fox," she whispered in his ear and slightly nudged him. And much to her surprise, Fox answered back.

"Yes, Krys?"

"You are actually awake?" Krystal asked in surprise and thinking that was Fox said was simply the result of a dream perhaps.

"Yes," Fox said. He still kept his eyes closed and didn't moved however.

Krystal scowled as she looked down at him, "Then why are you still in bed?"

"I was waiting for you to come," Fox said as he moved and grabbed Krystal by both shoulders and drew her down. She yelped slightly in surprise but soon relaxed when their lips met. Once they let go of each other Krystal playfully smacked Fox in the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Fox asked after a small moan as he rubbed behind his head.

"For making me come all this way," Krystal said with a small giggle. Fox got up and drew one of his uniforms from the closet as Krystal made her way out, "Meet you at the bridge."

"Right," Fox nodded and he started to change as Krystal walked away.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"ROB, open a communication channel with General Pepper please," Fox said as he sat in his chair and started to go through the data in his wrist-comp. A screen at the front of the bridge sparked to life.

"How did things go in Titania, Fox?" Pepper asked in the same tone and wearing the same uniform as ever. Fox always wondered how he managed to be in the same clothing and not getting tired of them. He moved his attention away from his wrist-comp for the moment.

"Well sir, we have both good and bad news to give," Fox started and made a small cough behind his right paw to clear his throat. "On one side, it appears Andross has nothing to do with this particular affair."

Pepper sighed, oblivious to the fact that he interrupted Fox, though the latter didn't seem to mind, "That's good to hear."

"As I was saying sir," Fox took in some air. "While going through one of the buildings we stumbled across a room filled with computers. I've downloaded some information that I deemed important into my wrist-comp, which I'll send later for further investigation," Pepper nodded. "As I said, it appears Andross has nothing to do with this, or at least, there was nothing in there that gave even the slightest hint of it. I'd say this is a personal vendetta of Scales against both Krystal and me, and grew in scale to what looks like an interplanetary war," Fox paused there.

Pepper nodded again and spoke, "What about this new weapon of them?"

"I was just getting to that. We overheard two sharpclaws talking about this new weapon and I could also find some data on it. It's not so much of a bio weapon however. They are special bullets that supposedly will only severely affect warm-blooded subjects, such as most of the Corneria population almost instantly killing them, or giving a slow torturous death."

Pepper raised his right eyebrow, "And should they hit another cold-blooded animal or one of they own?"

"According to what we heard, it that case the bullet will have no side-effects and would act as a normal bullet," Fox announced as he typed in a few things on the computer that etched from the right of his chair. "I'll send you the files I got in just a few moments."

"Very well," Pepper turned around and walked away, "Anything else you'd like to report?" he turned back.

"We delayed their production and investigation somewhat. Don't know how much time we got, but we blew their main supply of power."

Pepper's face showed a little of delight even though he tried to hide it, "Excellent work, Fox. I'm sure this will help us at least getting prepared."

"Sir, if you excuse me, I would like to ask one thing," Krystal said with some embarrassment as she moved besides Fox so that Pepper could see her.

"What is it, miss Krystal?" Krystal blushed just slightly not being used to be called 'miss'.

"If an actual war breaks out, and if as I suspect, Scales attacks... Could it be me the one that confronted him? Or form part of the squad in case you send one?"

Pepper was a little shocked to say the least, "I suppose you have your reasons," Pepper started. "Very well, you have my permission to do so. But you shouldn't be asking me this however." He flashed a small grin at Fox as Krystal blinked in confusion. " I'll send some informs later as to what will happen with the Star Fox during this war. Now if you excuse me, I have some matters to attend to. Star Fox, make haste in your way back to Corneria. We have no time to waste."

"Yes, sir," Fox answered as the hologram died. He turned to his left to face Krystal. "You sure about wanting to go against Scales? I understand your reasons, but..." he trailed off.

Krystal sighed, "I admit that I'm not too sure about that myself," she looked up at Fox. "But I must avenge my family..." she shook her head, "No, not only my family, but all of Cerinia." She said as she laid her head on Fox's left shoulder. Both Peppy and Slippy noticed but decided to save their comments out of respect. Fox stroked Krystal's head for a moment to make her relax.

After a minute Peppy approached the couple, "Sorry to interrupt, but we should be landing in Corneria in a little more than 2 hours."

Fox nodded, "Thanks Peppy." And the latter walked away.

Krystal stood up, "I'm heading down to the cabin for a moment." She then whispered something to his ear.

Fox nodded, "I'll catch up after I finish sending these files," Krystal planted a small kiss on his left cheek afterward before she left.

Fox resumed his work in the terminal to his side, and once Krystal had left the room both Slippy and Peppy made a few whistles at Fox, who slightly blushed, "Oh shut up," he said as the other laughed and resumed what they were doing. Fox on the other hand kept typing in the terminal as he transferred the files from his wrist-comp and proceeded to send them to Corneria.

"Well, I'm heading down for a while," Fox announced as he got up. "You two should take a break too," he said as he started to climb the stairs on the side and heading to the door.

"Nah, we just started here, besides, we are just checking the ship," said Slippy as he turned around to spot Fox.

"Besides, we wouldn't want to interrupt you two," Peppy added without moving his attention from his terminal.

Fox remembered what Krystal whispered to him, "Well, at least consider it in the nearby time." He left the room.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Krystal was already in the cabin, sitting in the largest of the 3 couches surrounding the glass table just 2 meters away from the giant-sized plasma screen of the cabin. She heard the door open and looked around to find who she thought it was. "Fox."

He walked towards her and sat down next to her on the righ. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" he placed his left hand on Krystal's left shoulder and drew her closer to him.

"About this whole incident with Scales and me..." she looked at Fox and then ahead through the window and into the sea of stars. "When I was in the orphanage back in Karenia, my fur wasn't the only thing why either the other children there avoided me, or teased me for..."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently rumors between the caretakers about me being followed by Scales started to spread around the place and somehow the other children found out. That's was only the start of my harsh life there... I had to spend eleven years enduring their teasing, threats and what not. Fortunately I still had my staff with me, which is the only reason why I was able to protect myself," she eyed her staff, which was tied in a special holster on her right thigh. "Not that I used it however."

She took a deep breath and continued, "I finally turned fifteen and that's when I finally realized the truth. However, I still had to live in the orphanage. I was already used to the treatment I had received from the other children but finding out of the truth dug out all those painful memories that I so much tried to bury inside me... Those must have been the hardest days in the time I was there, since things got worse afterwards. The teachers felt a little of compassion for me ever since I had arrived, but it stopped right there. Not to mention the other kids started to tease me worse, they were actually mocking the death of my family!" through the course of the talk she had started to choke up slightly, but at that point she finally broke into tears. Fox wanted to do something to make her feel better, but what could he possibly do to make that happen? Having no real answer he placed Krystal's head on his left shoulder and started to stroke it with his left hand trying to comfort her.

"That was the very first time I had actually used my staff. At that point I didn't cared about hurting them..." she paused trying to calm herself a little more, "For eleven years I simply dismissed all their comments, but at that moment I was very vulnerable with those news and for they to actually mock the whole death of my planet..." another pause to take calm long breaths. Fox continued to stroke her head silently. "Not long after that, the caretakers decided to release me. I still was 3 years younger than the normal age, but they thought that if I remained, I would have hurt the others badly because of their constant teasing and mockery..." she breathed calmly, still crying, but just a little more relaxed, "But it didn't end there. Every place I went, everyone turned their backs on me." And all of her effort to calm down went in vain as she started to openly cry again.

"Krystal, ever since I saw you back in Dinosaur Planet you know how I felt about you... During the time we've spent together I've come to learn more about your past with each passing day, and with each of those days I've also come to hate Scales more and more," Fox started and Krystal was stopping crying as he looked to Fox, who was looking straight ahead with a serious look. "But I can somewhat relate to the hatred you feel for Scales. My father, James McCloud was killed by Andross. Yes, the same Andross I fought back in Dinosaur Planet, and the same one I defeated 8 years ago. Since my father died I swore to get revenge on Andross, but the first time I fought him, and the whole complex was exploding, I know I saw my father. I know it because he was the one who guided me out of the place and to safety, but no one else saw it... That's one of the reasons I'll keep hunting Andross across the whole Lylat System, that, and to find about my father..." Fox paused for a second.

"I vowed to myself to protect you since the moment you came along with me to the Great Fox for the first time. Now I know that Scales is after you, and which is why I want you to reconsider what you asked Pepper a few minutes ago. I know Scales is planning this in order to draw you to him, however if you decide you still want to go ahead with this, then at least, let me come with you."

Krystal shook her slightly as she cleaned her eyes with her left paw. "No, I can't ask you to come with me. I've run away from my past for too long, this is the time where I'll put an end to it. I owe him most of my misery filled life," she looked up at Fox, who was already looking at her. "Don't worry, now that I have someone to return to, there's no way he's taking me down." She ended with a long kiss that Fox returned. They split apart and Krystal rested her head on Fox's shoulder as both stared into the infinite vastness of space.

"I'll be waiting for you then. I'll make the sure the rest of the things go well so you have a place, and someone to return to then." Another kiss, and both laid there until they had reached Corneria.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The Great Fox had landed back in Corneria. Fox expected their small diversion to give Corneria, and the surrounding planets, a week or two to prepare for yet another war.

As for the rest of the Star Fox crew? Peppy had gone out to visit his relatives for a couple of days before returning back with the team. Slippy, having not much to do at all had decided to look over the base and repair whatever that was affordable and necessary.

Fox and Krystal were finally having some quality time together. Sure they had spent some time aboard the Great Fox, but there's not really much to there and now with the rest they earned from their diversion they were getting the most of it. For one part, Krystal had finally gotten some normal clothing, so she could put her uniform to rest since her loincloth attracted too many sights. This also gave Fox the liberty to dress casually when with her.

Krystal was currently wearing a pair of gray shorts which reached around mid-thigh, along with a gray blouse and gray vest on top. They made a nice match to her cerulean fur. She still wore the golden bracelets, her usual footwear and necklaces however. She only removed her shoulder-pads. Fox was currently sporting a pair of gray shorts as well, though near-knee length, a white t-shirt topped with a green vest.

Pepper had already asked for their cooperation in the upcoming war. Provided one did occur of course. So Fox and Krystal had to take advantage of the time they had before that happened. Then again, they had to be prepared as well, and Krystal wasn't really too confident in her Arwing flying skills, so she had been asking Fox for advice, though she was answered with a flying simulator building. And that had been only the first day.

Fox had also taught Krystal how to use a Blaster just in case the need arose. She preferred her staff overall, but decided to carry a Blaster on whatever her next mission with the Star Fox would be. Other than that, Fox had kept showing new places to her with each passing day. And the following days were pretty much like this as the rest of the Cornerian army were getting prepared to defend their planet. They had a dinner in a fancy restaurant and headed back to the Star Fox base.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

What served as a base for the Star Fox was pretty quiet most of the time. It has been a week since they returned to Corneria and still no news on the whole Titania situation. Peppy was supposed to return that day, and both vulpines were snuggling against each other just talking. They had really come to enjoy this time together, both foxes were just looking outside the big pair of sliding glass doors that lead to the yard and into the starry night sky, not minding the mid-Fall temperatures, which were starting to get a chilly edge.

Behind them the sound of various keys being fiddled with made Fox turn around to see the door opening. He didn't expected the next however.

"Falco! What are you doing here?! I thought you'll be missing for at least another couple of months before we would see you again," Fox said a little surprised and mocked.

"Now wouldn't you like that?" he started as he entered the building. Falco, as his name suggests, is a falcon, his feathers are mostly blue, the only exception being the surrounding area of his eyes which are red. He was currently wearing a pair of black pants, a red shirt and a gray jacket over it. "Besides, it's not like I had much of choice..." Fox lifted an eyebrow to which Falco resumed, "Not with her behind me." Fox finished scowling as he saw a second shadow step in, having a good idea of who it was.

"It's not like I was going to let you sit idle in this situation, besides, Pepper did ask for your support," a pink cat stepped behind him.

"Nice to know we can count on you to put him in his place, Katt," Fox said with a smirk directed a Falco who growled slightly. Katt, as aforementioned, is a pink-colored cat, with shoulder-length pink-whitish straight hair. She was wearing a pair of gray pants and a light red blouse.

"Someone had to do it after all..." Katt started but caught sight of Krystal. "And who might this be, eh Fox?" she said with a tone that made Fox blush just so slightly under his fur, but luckily for him, Falco didn't saw. Katt and Falco walked over them and sat in an adjacent couch.

"I'm Krystal, nice to meet you," the blue vixen said topping it off with her trademark smile.

Fox added, "I guess you somewhat know Falco already from back at Dinosaur Planet. Katt has been sort of a long-time friend of the team since she always manage to appear whenever we find ourselves in a dire situation," Katt nodded, "That, and she's pretty much the only one who can control Falco." Krystal had heard a thing or two about Falco's personality. But so far he didn't seemed like a bad guy.

"This coming from the guy who couldn't help himself and had to go back..." Falco held a smug face after that. Fox simply shrugged.

"Oh that's not all, she's part of the Star Fox now," Falco's mouth hung open, "Yep, turns out she's one hell of a pilot." Then under his breath Fox added, "Among other things..." Krystal still heard and giggled somewhat.

"Changing the topic," Katt cleared her throat, "About this whole war that Pepper called us for.. He didn't say much at all, mind filling us in?"

"We don't really know too much either..." Krystal started...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

A week earlier...

"Those pesky foxes..." a figure hissed.

"Sir, we've finished the damage report. 47% of our electrical sources have been destroyed, the rest are intact but the main generator was severely damaged and needs to be repaired," a second figure started.

"Then what are you waiting for?! Do it!" The first one cut in.

"Yes sir, we estimate the repairs will take about a week to restore the plant to 100% operation, about half just to get the reactor running probably."

"Concentrate on the reactor then, restore the other terminals after that. We must not waste anymore time."

"Very well, sir." The second figure disappeared.

The first one cackled evilly, "Soon... Very soon, I'll strike back and this time things won't work your way Cerinian..."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Well, it certainly doesn't sound like Andross is involved in this," Katt commented. Falco laughed afterwards.

"After the beating he just received, I think it's too soon for him to make a comeback."

"You never know with that.. thing. The problem is we don't know when they'll strike," Fox retorted. Falco got up and walked to the glass sliding doors and looked upwards.

"It looks like there won't be any space war involved however," he started as he placed both of his hands behind his neck.

"I don't know much about this whole war concept, but I doubt they'll just deploy land forces. Otherwise they would be easy preys for the air fleet," Krystal remarked. Falco nodded.

"That's true," he turned around. And started to pace around.

"Could you stop? It's kinda unnerving..." Katt looked at Falco for a second. "However, they must have a big force ready if they are thinking of tackling Corneria like that. Then there's the point of safely getting them to land since I'll suspect they'll meet the space fleet." Falco turned around to look at Fox.

"Say, where's Peppy and Slippy?"

"Slippy is either on the Great Fox doing some repairs, tinkering with who knows what, or already asleep. He started early in the morning, so he should be tired by now. Peppy had left to visit some relatives not long after we got here. He's supposed to come back today," Fox answered. Falco nodded, then yawned.

"Say, is the room I used still here?"

"Yeah, we don't really have much to do with all the rooms up there, and knowing you... We left it like that," Fox answered back and motioned to Katt, "There's also a spare room at the end of the hallway that you are free to use Katt."

Katt smiled in return, "I think I'll do just that, we flew quite a bit to get back here, good night everyone." She then got up and started walking away.

Fox turned around after Katt disappeared and looked at Falco. "So...?"

"So what?" he answered just slightly annoyed.

"You know what I mean..." Fox nudged his head slightly towards the stairs direction.

"Mind your own business," Falco somewhat sneered as he also walked away and up the stairs.

Krystal blinked a few times in confusion, "What was that all about?"

Fox turned around to nuzzle her head softly, "How to put it... For quite a lot of time Falco's got this crush for Katt, and vice versa, but most of the time they are just bickering at each other," he paused, "In a friendly way of course... While they'll probably won't come out to the open at all, I think deep down they both know what the other feels, and I suppose all those arguments they have are their way of showing they care for each other... At least that's what Pep, Slip and I think..." Fox shrugged.

"Well I think they make a nice couple," Krystal added and Fox chuckled.

He turned his head a little past Krystal's to watch a clock on the wall which read 10.47 PM. "I don't know you, but I woke up a little early today and I'm getting rather sleepy. Not to mention I don't think Peppy will get here anytime soon." Fox yawned.

"I think I'm calling it a night as well," Krystal nuzzled Fox as they snuggled together. "I don't want to move..." she somewhat whined.

"I was thinking the same thing," Fox said. "Let me just grab this blanket over... here..." he said stretching a little to the other couch which had a folded blanket on the arm rest. He unfolded it and wrapped himself and Krystal on it as she laid her head on Fox's right shoulder, who lightly rested his head over Krystal's as they snuggled together for the night.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Never fails... Just when you need a hover cab, none seem to appear..." a somewhat aged rabbit said to no one in particular as he walked away from a currently parked hover cab, but then it took off. He fiddled with his keys, but found the door was unlocked. He dismissed the thought however and just walked in.

He immediately spotted both vulpines snuggled together under a blanket in one of the couches. He subconsciously smiled. He knew that Fox had suffered a lot in his childhood losing both of his parents. And from what he had gathered, he knew Krystal also had a tragic past, especially with being the sole survivor of her planet. In the end he was happy to see that both of them had finally started moving on. He walked carefully upstairs and into his room, the clock on his stand read 11.51 PM already, he was tired to say the least.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The next morning Solar was already projecting its rays into the particular area of Corneria where the Star Fox's base was, landing directly into a brown fox's face who stirred in his sleep. He groggily opened an eye and spotted a pink cat sitting on the other side of the room in a chair and holding a small mug in a paw.

"Aww, you two make such a nice couple," Katt said a slight teasing tone, then took a sip from whatever was in her mug.

Fox scowled. "Yeah, morning to you too," he said as he moved slowly since he didn't wanted to wake Krystal up. He just straightened himself up as Krystal was still laying on his right shoulder. "What time is it anyway?" he asked rubbing his eyes with his left paw.

"Just past 9 o'clock," she said looking at the clock behind Fox. "Well, since you seem to be in a tough spot..." she teased again motioning to the slumbering vixen. "Anything I can get you? Coffee? Water?"

"Nah, don't worry. She always wakes up around the first half of 9 AM," he gazed at her head and the slightly rustled hair. "I don't know how she does it, but always on cue," he ended as Katt hummed.

"The others are still asleep by the way," Fox nodded. "Any idea of when can we expect the enemy forces?" Katt questioned as she took another small sip from her mug.

"Well, the explosions weren't that great... I estimate we at least half-stopped their power... But one of the main bombs was on the generator, so they must have taken a heavy loss there... I say we can still get anywhere from 3 to 7 days before we hear from them," Fox ended. Krystal stirred slightly, "See, I told you she always wakes up around this time." Katt chuckled.

"Hmm..." Krystal mumbled as she stretched a little in her place and spotted Fox and Katt. "Morning," she yawned afterwards. Both answered back. Krystal turned around to gaze at the clock and read 9.11 AM.

Fox turned to see Katt, "I could use the coffee now," he smirked.

"Too late, she's already up, you go get it," she said quickly pointing to the kitchen and with a smirk on her face.

"Bah..." he got up and walked to the kitchen, "Need anything Krys?"

Krystal turned to face Fox, "I wouldn't mind some coffee. The usual," she turned around again and placed the blanket aside.

Katt drew Krystal's attention by waving a hand at the distracted vixen, "So, since when have you two been together?"

Krystal hummed as she looked upwards, "Not long really, just a little less than two weeks. Why you ask?"

"Nothing special," she took a sip from her mug, "It's just good that he's finally moving on after all that has happened in his life." Krystal nodded. Fox was already returning.

"Here you go," he said as he handed Krystal a mug of coffee, to which she promptly blew a little at before tentatively taking a sip to see how hot it was.

"Say Fox, you joining the earth or the sky battle?" Katt questioned across the table.

"Hmm... I really haven't thought about it. I guess I'll leave the air to Falco for now, and I expect the Husky, Bulldog and the new Lupus squads to be up there as well... So I guess I'll help on the ground for some time." Fox sipped from his mug.

"I guess I'll be giving air support to you then. I think I'm taking the air raid," Katt said. She looked at Krystal, "How 'bout you?"

She hummed as she sipped from her mug, "I don't know, I could take the ground, I've been learning how to use a Blaster and I have a somewhat good accuracy, and I can always fling fireballs with my staff," she patted her staff resting in a special holster around her right thigh, "Then again, I could take the air as well... I don't really know."

Katt nodded, "Well, you still have a couple of days to decide, though you could always stay back in the infirmary if you choose not to fight."

Krystal shook her head, "Nah, I do like helping people out, but I feel like I owe this place something so I want to help. Besides, if I know Scales as I think I do, he is going to show up, and I still have to exact the revenge of my planet..." She sighed.

Katt scowled and was about to speak but noticed Fox's head shaking slightly as if saying 'No'. She said nothing.

"Anyway, I'm taking a quick shower," Krystal said as she kissed Fox in the right cheek, took the last of her mug, placed it on the table and walked upstairs to her room.

"It's good to see that you finally found someone," Katt said as she also took the last of her mug and placed in on the table.

"And to think I barely rejected that mission to Dinosaur Planet... I guess the reward I got from successfully doing the missing was naught compared to her." Fox took a long sip and finished his coffee, he also placed his mug down.

"I suppose." She smiled, got up and stretched a little as she walked to the sliding glass doors. She turned around, "You'd best get ready, I have a feeling she'll have you out all day with her," and she smirked. Fox nodded and left the lobby heading upstairs.

* * *

Alan: There you go, chapter 7 down. And the longest of all so far.  
Krystal: And now what do we have left?  
Alan: Well, I think just 2 more chapters until this particular story arc ends. Then what I suppose would be the actual plot will actually begin.  
Krystal: Actual...plot? Then what's all this?  
Alan: It's all part of a bigger plan, trust me.  
Krystal: I find that so hard to do...  
Alan: [Rolls eyes] Anyway... Now wasn't that scene of Fox and Krystal in the cabin slightly corny? (The end I mean) 

Well, if you notice anything out of place (Like mistakenly naming a planet wrong again...) be sure to tell me so I can correct it.

And thanks to my beta-reader, Jamie Bunyi.

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510hotmail.com  
Until next time!

Chapter 8: Let it Begin...


	8. Let it Begin

Star Fox Adventures and all its characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrug]  
Just read on.

So anyway, the first story part is coming to a close. The 2nd will start right away, in this same entry (The Fox and the Vixen I mean). So yeah...

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 8 - Let it Begin..._

* * *

Pepper was sitting on a chair at the edge of a long rectangular table in what looked like a conference room. Said room was large and rectangular, the walls all were adorned with records of Corneria's achievements. The table in the middle, as stated previously, was rectangular, long enough to hold about ten furs; one on each edge, and four on each side. 

Pepper was in the north edge of the table. The south edge was occupied by Cleo Habana, an arctic female wolf in charge of the Security Department. Pepper knew her well, and just like him, she had been silent so far through the meeting. The right side, from north to south, were occupied by two female vulpines, a black furred one, the other was red furred; two loop-eared rabbits, a gray female and then a black male. The left side was filled by a gray male feline, a pink female cat, a male black wolf, and a red-bluish male avian.

Pepper, oblivious to the meeting to some extent was thinking to himself, going through some of the latest things he has learned. _Let's see... If they go for the city I already have part of the security department on stand by for evacuation... The Husky, Bulldog and Lupus squads are ready anytime to take out the aircraft... Our land forces are ready as well... Katina is scheduled to send reinforcements when they receive our signal... Our scientists managed to get an idea on their new weapon, but sadly couldn't create a counter-measure. _

He sighed lightly as to not to draw attention. _Then again, they have Venomian sentries as well, even though Andross isn't involved, I wonder how did they got their support... They certainly aren't on the best terms possible with Corneria, so I suppose they joined out of spite... _

He snapped back to reality as the red female vixen - whose name tag read Tabitha Wilde - addressed him, "But sir, instead of waiting for them to come, why don't we launch a surprise attack on Titania and take them out swiftly?"

Pepper shook his head, "According to what I could gather from the information Fox and Krystal, two members of the Star Fox team that I had sent there previously, the security was pretty low, which not only leads me to believe that they weren't expecting the attack, even if only by two furs; but Titania isn't their main base of operations." He stopped.

The male rabbit interjected, his tag flashed the name Tyler Brisbane, "And from the same information we analyzed," he started as he got everyone's attention, "We believe that this Scales subject has formed and alliance with Venom, and that's where most, if not all of their troops reside. Even though I have no clue how these 'Sharpclaws' can withstand the poisonous atmosphere."

Marcus Windsor, the avian - head of Military Affairs - lifted his head to address Brisbane, "And we know better than to attack Venom with land sentries. Even with air crafts the possibilities are scarce. Venom's atmosphere is simply lethal to us and should the aircrafts' life support expire for whatever reason..." he ended there, well knowing that everyone knew what he was getting to.

"It's a wonder the Star Fox succeeded there eight years ago in the Lylat War..." Lenne Sonara, the black vixen murmured.

The female rabbit, Kimberly Taylor, and second in charge of the Security Department politely coughed into her right paw to draw attention to her, "So our only choice is to wait for the attack?" she coughed again, but twice this time and not on purpose, she appeared to have a cold, "Pardon me. As I was saying, there has to be a better way!"

Aeris Denburg, the pink female cat was tapping her fingers at the table, "But still, when they do attack, we don't know if they'll go directly for the city or land in an open field and go from there..."

Leo Corain, the gray feline next to her added afterwards, "We need to make an evacuation plan in case they do attack the city, or it gets damaged by any reason. We could still try to keep them away at all costs, but it never hurts to be prepared."

The black lupine being second in Military Affairs - Sean Tavalo - spoke in a gruffly voice, "We could place the Husky and Bulldog squads on standby in outside the Cornerian atmosphere and make them lure the enemy into an open field, or away from the city for that matter. The Lupus squad could station themselves over the city for precaution. Should everything go according to plan, they could rendezvous with the Husky and Bulldog squads where the enemy is." Excluding Pepper and Cleo, the rest started to murmur and whisper between them.

Cleo finally lifted her sight, "Excellent idea Tavalo, however, we still should make an evacuation plan ready and have half of the land troops in standby and ready for movement, whether the enemy reaches a field away from the city, or the city itself, we need to get our troops there ASAP." She paused to look sideways and outside the window. It was already late. The meeting was scheduled just past 4 PM, but had been delayed unexpectedly. She spoke softly, "I don't know how, but if we managed to get through the Lylat War, we can definitely get through this." The rest nodded.

"It's getting late," said Pepper looking at the big clock in front of him etched in the southern wall, it read 9.28 PM, "This is all for today it seems, we'll arrange a second meeting to discuss further plans on both the evacuation, and how to take care of the enemy." Everyone started to leave the room and go in their own directions. Everyone expect Pepper that is, he waited until everyone left before he walked towards the window and gazed to the city.

"Pepper? What are you doing here?" The voice of Cleo emanated from behind Pepper. She walked closer and stood besides him, also looking to the outside.

"The sight from this place always seems to relax me. Not to mention there isn't much I can do right now. We can only wait for the inevitable and hope things work out fine." Cleo nodded afterwards.

"I guess you are right in a way, but we still have to get ready for when they come, which I fear is anytime soon," she sighed.

"I wonder why did it come down to this... I mean, we had lived eight peaceful years and had come to standard terms with Venom, so long as none of us gave a threat to the other things would remain fine... But then this Scales Fox and Krystal seem to know suddenly comes and breaks everything up... And so much for a grudge against those two."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know all of the details, but I do know Fox spoiled his plans in Dinosaur Planet not long ago." Cleo hummed once Pepper ended.

"Well, don't dwell too much on it, you should get some sleep. I feel it's going to be a long day tomorrow." The lupine started walking away around the table.

"You are probably right," Pepper turned around. "Have a good night."

"You too," Cleo said as she left his sight. A few seconds later Pepper started walking away as well.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Ooh," a female voice moaned. A small pause... "Oof," a second came. Another pause... "Oh God," the same voice exclamated.

"You really think I'm that good?" a male voice questioned.

"Well, I don't really have much to compare you to, but as far as it concerns me, you are doing wonders," the female let out another slight moan afterwards.

"Have I told you this is my first time doing this?"

"It certainly looks like you are quiet an expert," followed by another small moan.

"Just what the heck are you two doing?!" A third voice emanated from the other side of the room at the same time it hit the light switch, revealing Falco.

On the other side of the room were Krystal and Fox, sitting on a couch, the aforementioned vixen giving her back to Fox, who had his hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, I was just giving Krys a small back rub," Fox declared casually, and sure enough, he resumed her massage. Falco blinked a couple in times, not only in confusion, but to try to wake up and try to understand just what was happening.

"Well keep it down," he yawned as he turned the lights down. "Some furs want to sleep around here," he declared a little harshly as he started going up the stairs. Both foxes stared in silence.

"What was that all about?" Krystal asked as she tilted her head to the sides to see Fox in the corner of her eyes.

"With Falco you can never be sure." Krystal nodded. "It's getting late, Krys. Maybe we should get some sleep," Fox said as he nuzzled the back of her head before he stood up and helped her up as well. They walked together in an embrace up to their rooms. They kissed and entered their own rooms.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The next morning, Fox was still slumbering peacefully. That's it, until a hare walked into his room.

"Fox, wake up," Peppy said standing below the door frame, "Pepper's on the line and waiting."

"Wha...?" Fox mumbled as he tossed the covers a little, and blinked a few times trying to get used to the light. He spotted Peppy, "Oh, ok. Just a second," he said while he moved to sit on the edge of the bed, he yawned and proceeded to stretch before he went down after Peppy. He was in his usual nightwear, gray shorts and a white shirt. Turning left after going down the stairs he spotted Katt, who as usual already had a mug of coffee in her paws.

"Morning sleepyhead," Katt said in a teasing tone; the one as usual actually. Fox mumbled something. Just to her right on the wall the image of Pepper was displayed in a wide monitor. He looked just a tad alarmed, so much that only one who knew him long would be able to notice... Fox was one of them.

"Fox, we've received reports from Macbeth saying they spotted various carriers and a fleet of Venomian Invaders," he paused and looked upwards with a thinking face, "They also mentioned something about what appeared to be an enormous battle cruiser, but the signal in their radars faded right away..."

Fox couldn't exactly see what he was getting at. Sure, the attack was probably coming, but, "Your point?" Fox questioned as he titled his head sideways.

"My point is that I want you to bring your team to the Cornerian Army Base around 12 o'clock."

Fox looked at the wall on the left, past Katt, to see the clock etched there. It read 9.06 AM. _Just a little less than 3 hours... I wonder what's this all about..._ He looked back to Pepper, "Alright, General." Transmission was cut off by Pepper at that moment.

Katt stood up, "I'll wake up Falco," she said before she placed down her mug and headed upstairs.

Fox turned around to see Peppy, "Where's Slip anyway?"

"He's practically living in the Great Fox these days. I'll let him know we're heading out so he gets ready," Peppy said as he started walking to the sliding glass doors. Fox paced to the stairs.

"Alright, thanks." He started going up the stairs, "I'll wake up Krys." Peppy left the building shortly afterwards.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Two hours and a half later, everyone was ready in the first floor, some sooner than others. The Star Fox members were in their standard uniforms, yes, this included Falco. Katt was in one of her own freelancing uniforms. This one consisted of a simple pair of ocean blue pants and a sleeve-less blouse of the same color, topped with a white vest. She had her blaster's holster around her right thigh. Krystal had indeed brought a blaster as well. Her staff rested on a special pouch in her right thigh, whereas the blaster's holster was on her left thigh.

They left the building to find two parking hover cabs Peppy had called for not long ago. Fox, Krystal and Peppy boarded one. Katt, Falco and Slippy took the other. Falco cursing about something. About twenty minutes later they arrived at the Cornerian Army Base.

Once inside, they were led by a female squirrel attendant into an enormous conference hall. Oddly enough, among everyone there, Fox couldn't spot anyone with the Husky and Bulldog uniforms, or Bill Grey for that matter, a long-time friend and ally of Fox whatever the situation was. He dismissed the thought however.

Normally, the place would be filled with chairs, but it was so packed that the chairs had to be removed. So everyone was stuck standing up.

A few moments later, Pepper appeared and stood behind a podium in the far edge of the room. Everyone started to quiet down. He cleared his throat.

"As some of you know, or might have heard already; Corneria is about to face a new challenger," he was interrupted in a way by some murmur among the congregation of troops. He resumed once the noise quieted considerably, "This time, it's a new enemy. A new enemy allied with Venom. We don't know the main objective, and I know it's not domination of our world, but whatever the reason might be, we do know Venom joined out of spite. We don't know for sure what to expect, but we do know how they'll attack, or how they plan to and a way to counter them." He paused.

"Right now the Husky and Bulldog units are orbiting around Corneria, waiting for the enemy. They'll rendezvous with the Lupus squad back in the Cornerian sky once the gets here. What happens afterwards will depend on how the enemy reacts at first to the two squads." He looked to both sides behind him, "For the current briefing in both our defensive tactics and offensive assaults, I leave you with Cleo Habana," an arctic wolf stood to his right, "Head of the Security Department. And Sean Tavalo," a black wolf stood to his left, "Head of Military Affairs." Pepper stood back and took a seat.

Cleo Habana was the first to take word, "We expect the enemy to head directly for our city, which is why we placed the Husky and Bulldog units in surveillance for the enemy; to hopefully lure them away to a place where we can strike. Sean will explain more on that later." She grabbed the glass of water she had brought with her and took a sip. _Oh, that's why they aren't here... _Fox thought.

She resumed, "In case our diversion should fail, or anything unexpected happens, we already have an evacuation plan ready. For now, we'll leave one-fourth of our troops in standby here at Corneria City just in case. The rest will go and meet the enemy on the battlefield," she took in some air. "In the battlefield you can expect the Venomians to take over the air, and their allies called Sharpclaws to take the ground. Our air fleet will take the air at the same time they provide backup operations for the ground units. We don't know much about these Sharpclaws, but there is one thing to mention, which Sean will do so in a while. For now to our offensive strategy." She stepped back and Sean took her place.

"As Cleo said, the main plan is to lure the enemy into an open field where we can strike and to avoid any civilian casualties. Once they are away from the city and we have the perimeter of the city secured, the troops in standby here will move to meet the rest at the battlefield," he looked at all the troops for a moment. "Each of you has your own specialization, you know that. You've been trained in the area you excelled and chose to follow, it'll be the same this time. You'll be issued either standard military issue weapons, battery weapons, or long-range area weapons, remember your training, both in the offensive and defensive tactics to take out the enemy while avoiding casualties... I don't mean to sound discouraging, but this time, your training is the only thing that can save you." He took a drink from his own glass of water.

"On a previous mission directed by our General, Pepper; two members of the Star Fox team infiltrated the enemy base to gather data on their plans. With said information we discovered a new type of bullet they created, however, this doesn't applies to fire arms only, proving our speculations wrong, this bullet can also be made into a special energy cell usable by battery weapons, you all know them. Said bullet or energy cell is said to be carrying a special toxin in the case of bullets; on energy cells it's a modified beam carrying a second property. Said toxin or element is supposed to work only on warm-blooded furs, like ourselves, delivering an almost lethal wound should the bullet or laser penetrate your fur." The rest of the furs started to murmur again.

"We have no reason to believe that they also have a type of long-range area ammunition with these properties, so there's no problem there. But as you know, while it is possible to create a type of protection that can deflect both bullets and lasers, the endurance is not only slightly lower, but is not 100% secure. It will be up to each of you to decide how to balance your protection, and you'll be good to stick to the enemy that carries that type of weapon you are best protected from," he paused and knew what was coming.

A brown female raccoon lifted her right paw, "Sir, should they hit one of their own... You said the effect is only for warm-blood furs, so that means the impact on them would be like a normal bullet or laser?"

Sean nodded, "That's right cadet. Any other questions?"

This time a red male cat lifted his right paw, "Sir, what do you say are our probabilities of survival?" He asked in a rather grim tone, but none could blame him. Some of his upper companions knew he had just entered and while at least 80% of the furs there were actually prepared, he along with his classmates in the academy had the lowest skills when it came to this, considering they were just trainees.

Sean pondered on the question, "I would say it all falls down to 50% skill, and 50% luck. It will be on how good your reflexes are, and to what type of protection you have and the weapon your 'prey' or 'hunter' will have. Anything else?"

The room was filled with murmur, but one asked anything else.

Cleo stepped forward, "We still haven't received confirmation from the Husky and Bulldog squads. You'll be wise to use this time before you are called out on duty. Call your families, sweethearts, acquaintances or anyone you feel you should. Or train your skills for some time before the actual combat commences. You'll be transported back to the Academy, but I'm afraid you won't be able to leave, use this time to decide your protection and armament as well. We will transmit a message through all of the Academy once the enemy gets near. Air troops should board their aircrafts at said time and land troops will be moved into transport units to take you to the site of battle. Those who'll remain guarding the city for the meantime will be placed in strategic positions. Once and if we see our diversion worked, we'll call you to join the battle." Both wolves stepped back and Pepper was at the podium again.

"We expect the enemy to arrive around sunset, past 7 PM in other words. That is of course, if they remain in a straight course. Use the time you still have and... Best of luck to all you!" Pepper made the standard military salute, the rest of the troops followed. The room started to clear out then.

All of the Academy troops were taken back there by several transports. The Star Fox team remained inside the Cornerian Army Base, but in the reception hall, by the small area that was some sort of lounge for those in wait.

"Still going for land then, Krystal?" Katt asked as she sat besides her.

Krystal nodded, "Yeah, with my staff I can do plenty of stuff, from those long-range area attacks, to defensive magic and melee combat. Plus I have my blaster now."

"Best of luck then, and don't try anything rash," the pink cat smiled before she got up and walked away. Krystal sighed in her seat, Fox was talking to Slippy and Peppy but caught sight of her, he left those two to themselves and sat next to Krystal.

"What's wrong Krys?"

"I don't know... I have this strange feeling... That this is not all. Then there's this dream..."

"Dream?" Fox eyed her carefully, she looked back at him before dropping her eyes.

"Yes. We are running... Running from armored Sharpclaws... Then we come to a dead end and there's nothing we can do, we just look at each other before they fire. And that's the end... Always..." Her eyes were a little misty by now.

"You have that dream too?" Fox asked surprised.

"Too? What do you mean? You've been dreaming that as well?" Krystal looked back at Fox.

"Every now and then, I have no idea what it means. But the structure was different from the Titanian base... I never gave too much thought to it however..."

"I don't know that place either, but I have a bad feeling about it."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Fox said not believing himself. He stroked Krystal's hair with his right paw. "We should get going back." Krystal nodded.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

30 minutes later or so, the Star Fox was back at their 'base'. The clock read 12.50 AM. _6 hours..._ Was the general thought among all.

"I'm going to do a last minute target-range with my blaster," said Fox as he walked to the glass sliding doors. They had a small simulator aboard the Great Fox for such things, he just had to get there.

Krystal tailed him, "I'll go with you. I could use the extra practice."

Falco turned around to see Peppy and Slippy, "Will you two be joining the fray?" He questioned.

Peppy shook his head, "I'll stay back and help with the casualties and injuries. I'm growing too old for that kind of action." Falco chuckled at the 'old' remark.

"I'll stay at the R&D department as usual. You know some of them will jam their weapons, they need someone who knows his way around those things," Slippy said in his odd voice. Peppy walked to the kitchen, Slippy took a seat at the table nearby.

"Katt?" the avian turned around to look at her.

"I think I'm going to take a small nap, don't really have anything to do. I guess I'll see you in four hours," she said climbing up the stairs.

"Man, there's nothing to do!" Falco huffed and walked outside through the main door.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Sir, we are passing through Katina. Corneria should be close."

"Excellent... Finally, the revenge will be mine..."

"Sir! We are getting faint signals of Cornerian aircrafts orbiting around Corneria!" A third voice shouted.

"Looks like the welcoming committee is here..."

"What should we do sir? Attack?" The same voice as before questioned.

"No, wait for their action," the voice hissed.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Back in Corneria, four hours have already passed. And surely enough, Katt was already heading down the stairs. She was already back in her uniform, her hair was just slightly disheveled. The clock on the wall said 5.13 PM. She looked around and spotted Peppy and Slippy.

"Are Fox and Krystal still practicing?" She asked. Peppy was sitting on one of the couches reading a thick book. Slippy was still in the kitchen table fiddling with some object.

Peppy put down his book for a second before looking sideways, "Yeah, at least we think they are. Falco hasn't showed up." Katt scowled, "He left not long after you went to sleep."

"Hmm, he'll show up in a while. I think I'm joining Fox and Krystal, you never know. Just to be sure I still got the edge in case I'm taken down from the sky," she said before heading out. She had been in the Great Fox just a couple of times before. She somewhat knew her way around.

Falco was just walking through all of Corneria. It was a very quiet day. He wondered if Pepper had said anything to the population about this and they were in their houses, because it was unusually quiet.

He looked down at his wrist-clock, it read 3.17 PM. He looked upwards and sighed. This whole war was bringing him memories of his past. Mostly centered on a particular someone.

The avian was walking through a park. He spotted a bench and paced to it before sitting down. He just kept going through all his memories. Ever since his childhood he... His thought was interrupted by a child's voice, "Excuse me, sir. Could you pass the ball?"

Falco blinked in confusion, he lifted his head and spotted a female pink cat about five meters away, he then looked down and saw a small plush ball, he grabbed it and flung it softly for the girl to catch it easily, "Thank you, sir!" And she disappeared under a small hill.

_Just what were the odds... Almost the same as her... Ever since I was a child I never had too many friends... Heck, I could count them using just my right paw, but I drew most of them away... Except... Except for her... She always stood with me, no matter what I did. _He hung his head and looked downwards. _Yeah, she never left me alone. I don't know why, but in a way I do owe my current life to her... If she hadn't been there for... with me, I don't think my life would have been the same; I think the solitude would have driven me insane at that time. _

_But... But why can't I tell her... I've had hundreds of opportunities, but every time I have to say something stupid in return or do a witty remark to make her angry at me... You ought to think that one could at least understand himself, but no. I have no idea what drives me to do that, but then again, she always responds back..._

He shifted again, this time looking to the sky. _I don't like something about this war. Something simply... feels wrong. But I have to do something after it's over... Even if it's unlike me... But what's like me anyway? All of this, all of who I am is nothing but a mere facade I created long ago... _

_Oh well, it's pointless to think of this right now. I've got less than two hours before the 'scheduled' hour for the enemy strike... I better head back. _He finished thinking before he got up and started walking back.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"This is certainly a new definition of the phrase 'target-range practice'..." A feline smirked as he entered the shooting range of the Great Fox only to spot Fox and Krystal kissing. They quickly broke apart blushing.

"W-we just got a little distracted, that's all," Fox said sheepishly.

"No kidding. You mind if I take some time to brush up my skills?" Katt asked walking forward and reaching for her blaster.

"Of course not, we should do so as well," said Krystal going back to her stand before grabbing back her blaster. Fox did the same thing.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, with the exception of the blaster shots.

"So where's everyone else?" Krystal asked.

Katt lowered her blaster as the target holograms faded. "Falco went out somewhere. Peppy is reading and Slippy is messing with who knows what," she lifted her blaster again and resumed her shooting.

"Say, why are you practicing your shooting? Aren't you taking the air?" Fox questioned without diverting his eyes from the holograms, shooting one after the other.

"Yeah, just a precaution in case I'm taken down from the air. You never know," Katt said as she recharged the battery cell of her blaster before resuming. She lifted her blaster but didn't fired as she blinked in confusion, "Now wait a minute... You have been here 4 straight hours shooting at holograms?" she questioned, and could swear she heard a loud gulp from both vulpines but wasn't sure.

"Pretty much, yeah," Fox tried, "It's not like we got anything else to do." He was still sending shot after shot.

Katt eyed Fox with a wide smirk. He couldn't see her, but knew she was smiling like that at him, it always unnerved him. "If you say so. We should get going back anytime soon. It's just a quarter before four o'clock and I think Pepper will call anytime soon if the enemy was indeed on its way."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Sir," an image of a black furred male husky with white stripes appeared in the cabin of an aircraft being piloted by a gray dog. "We've spotted the enemy sector T-8."

The gray dog nodded and opened a general channel to all units, "All units, this is Bill Grey speaking. We've received confirmation of enemy sightings by sector T-8. Everyone, move out!" He quickly sent a signal down to the Cornerian Army Base before moving out as well.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Numerous enemy units are on standby in our route to Corneria, sir."

"Signal some of the Invaders to attack. Keep casualties to a minimum."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"General Pepper," a male hedgehog dressed in a light blue uniform with white stripes on the sides entered Pepper's office. "We just received confirmation from the Husky squad. The enemy should be close to engage with them."

Pepper turned around and nodded, "Thank you." The hedgehog made a salute and left.

Back in the Great Fox, both vulpines and the added feline were already heading back. Peppy was walking towards them.

"Pepper called about ten minutes ago, the enemy is already engaged with the Husky and Bulldog units. He said a transport will come to get us in a while."

"Falco and I should be getting ready then... Just where is he anyway?" Katt asked to no one in particular as she crossed the double set of sliding glass doors. Just at that time, Falco entered through the main door. "Oh, there you are. Come on, the enemy is already in the Cornerian outer atmosphere engaged in combat, we should get going!"

"Wha? Oh, right. Let's go then." Both of them walked out through the glass doors and sprung back to the Great Fox to board their ships.

Peppy looked back at both foxes, "You'll be geared up once we reach our destination by the way." Slippy appeared out of nowhere and addressed Fox.

"Say Fox, here, take this with you," he said as he handed Fox a small tube of about half a feet long and no more than 2 centimeters thick. "It's basically a powered up version of a standard laser sword. It should be useful should you run out of ammo or want to go head-to-head," he paused. "It's still a beta design, but it's very stable nonetheless."

"Thanks, Slip. I'm sure it'll be useful," Fox said placing the tube between his belt and waist, around the left side. Just then a loud horn came from the front of the building.

All 4 went out and found a large transport ship. Fox looked at everyone, "Ready?" Everyone nodded in answer. They walked to the ship and entered through the open back compartment. And to their surprise they were the only ones there, except for a female light brown furred rabbit with long black-brown hair tied in a ponytail. Dressed in a light-teal uniform, normal pants with a blouse of said color with a grayish vest on top, she also sported a purple scarf loosely tied around the neck. She had the Lupus squad insignia boarded in the front of the vest, the name Jamie Holgren was boarded right beneath it. There was also an aircraft with the Lupus squad design.

Fox eyed her cautiously. She looked back with a wondering look.

"Jamie?" Fox attempted, his question would have been answered had he been able to see the name boarded in her vest. The rabbit's eyes flew open.

"Fox? Is that you?" She stood up. She was about Fox's height head-to-head, but her ears gave her the advantage so to speak. She started taking a couple of steps towards the small group, mainly focusing her sight on the russet-gold fox. "It's really you!" She sprinted forward and caught Fox by surprise with a small friendly hug; a small friendly hug Krystal didn't minded. The rabbit let go of Fox but still held him by the shoulders.

"I haven't seen you since I left the Academy. It certainly has been a long time," Fox said scratching the back of his head. The rest moved a little past them to take a sit along the borders of the ship.

Jamie led Fox around and they sat with the others, Jamie on the far left, then Fox to the right, Krystal, Peppy and Slippy. "Mind filling us in?" Slippy asked before Krystal or Peppy got the chance.

"Oh right," Fox started, "I met Jamie a long time ago while I was at the Academy. She was a very good friend, not to mention a very nice pilot," he paused.

Jamie took off however, "Yeah, I was having some troubles in a couple of classes and I asked Fox for advice. He was three years older than me, but we were in the same area, so I thought he could help me with my flying issues."

Fox nodded, "So I agreed and before you knew it, we were hanging together most of our free time. Neither of us were the kind of furs to have a wide circle of friends..." he paused to think, "Heck, as far as I know, Jamie was my only friend back at the Academy other than Wolf. I still don't know what made him bail out and pursue Andross' ways. He had a very promising future there with his grades and abilities..." He drew out the last word.

"So what happened when Fox left the Academy?" Krysal questioned. She leaning a little against Fox by this point.

"That was the time when Andross was attacking... Even though I had graduated, I stayed behind to give advice to trainees and such, but then my... father..." he paused to take in some air, "I had to avenge him, but after that we kinda took the mercenary path, and I didn't go back to the Academy. So we lost contact at that time."

"More over, I don't think I would have been able to become the leader of the Lupus squad if Fox hadn't helped me before at all. All of his advices and lessons really made a difference in my flying skills," Jamie said.

Fox's eyes opened in surprise as he turned to see her in the face, "You are the leader of the Lupus squad?"

Jamie smiled and nodded, "Yep, all thanks to you."

Fox waved his left paw (His right arm was tied with Krystal's left arm) and shook his head, "You always had the leadership skills anyway. Besides, all I did was point out a thing or two in your flying, you did the rest."

Jamie was about to argue with that, but Peppy got ahead of her, "You do realize you are getting nowhere with this small argument, do you?"

Jamie nodded, "Yeah, I believe you are right," she paused. "Well, now that I've been introduced... Mind doing the same for me?"

Peppy cleared his throat, "There isn't much to say, but this lady here is Krystal." He said obviously pointing to the blue vixen, "To my right is Slippy, and my name's Peppy."

"So how did you ended being the leader of the Lupus squad?" Slippy asked.

Jamie politely coughed behind her left paw, "Well, the same day of the graduation of my generation, Pepper approached me and said he was going to make a new squad that could fight alongside the Husky and Bulldog, though this was going to be one of Corneria main squads and he asked me if I wanted to be the leader of it since he said I was a good pilot and had leadership skills. I had agreed, but I had to scout for pilots, which took me almost a year and a half, once I had everything ready I went back with Pepper and he allowed me to name it. That's pretty much it."

"Is that the reason why it's named Lupus? Because of you being a rabbit I mean," Krystal asked.

Jamie smiled sheepishly and scratched behind her ears with her right paw, "Hehe, yeah. I couldn't really think of anything."

"I never it sounded bad. In fact, I like it. Then again, the other two squads are also called after dog species," Krystal added. Jamie nodded.

"So are you four taking the land?"

Fox shook his head, "Just me and Krys."

"I'm staying behind with the wounded and Slippy is going to R&D," Peppy added. Slippy nodded.

They kept talking through the whole trip, which lasted only about 15 minutes or so. When the transport stopped, everyone went out to find hundreds of soldiers going around the place. Dogs, wolves, cats, foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits, birds, any fur you could think of, it probably was here. Everyone sporting a type of armor or another, different weapons. Everyone with a off look in their faces waiting for the inevitable.

The Husky and Bulldog units had succeeded in driving the enemy to an open area. Well, so far the enemy was tailing them, and they were bringing it to this particular sector. Peppy and Slippy headed off to their respective posts. Fox and Krystal had been led to get geared up, and 5 minutes later, both were sporting a clothing made of a special fabric used to repel several types of bullets as long as the impacts weren't in the same place. Fox had remained with his blaster and his newly created laser sword. Krystal had her staff and blaster.

They were talking with Jamie again. About 10 minutes later, the Husky and Bulldog units soared through the sky with numerous Venomian Invaders and huge transport ships after them. Not to mention what looked as their flagship, since it was the biggest ship of all.

"They are finally, here. Well, best of luck to you. Don't do anything crazy out there, and I guess I'll see you later once all of this blows over," Jamie said as she started to pace back to the transport that carried her ship.

"Good luck to you too!" Fox yelled as he led Krystal around the place.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"General Pepper, the diversion tactic by the Husky and Bulldog squads was a success. The enemy is flying around sector C-9," a female blue-feathered in the blue-white-striped uniform pointed her finger on a large scale map of the surrounding area of Corneria City. "80% of our troops are already there. The rest are here as planned, shall we send them to battle?"

"Wait until actual engagement has occurred," Cleo stepped in. "They might have seen through our plan and left a small force, we'll just wait for a while before we send these units."

"Habana is right. Once the situation over there looks stable, we'll send the last of our forces over there." Sean added.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"I think we've been lured into a trap, sir."

A second figure hissed loudly, "Yes, I know. But we'll play their game. Deploy all units, now!"

"Yes, sir!"

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Well, Krys, you ready?" Fox asked. He was along the first lines of sentries. There were about 10 companies of foot soldiers. Each company had a row of defensive units. They were armed with small reflectors that could easily bounce enemy lasers, and they also had a small blaster for offensive maneuvers. Past them were a couple of lines of standard infantry, armed with anywhere from semi-automatic rifles, be it of standard ammunition or energy; they also had a melee weapon should their main weapons fail, be destroyed, or ran out of ammo and had none left. And the last row had soldiers armed with an area weapon, special missile launchers on the back of their hands (Yes, small missiles, but with a nice power). Fox and Krystal were standing right behind the defensive units.

"As ready as I can, I guess," she sighed. Truth be told, she didn't wanted to be here, heck, she knew no one wanted to be here. She looked back and saw the Lupus squad in position, among all the other fighters. She could recognize Katt's pink machine somewhere along the middle. She resumed her sight to the front and saw what she believed to be the Husky and Bulldog squads flying. Fox flashed a thumbs up to someone in the sky, Krystal didn't knew.

She grabbed her staff and expanded it. "Incoming!" she heard someone yell and looked upwards to see something flying towards them after passing the hill that was conveniently blocking their sight. She instinctively flung a fireball from her staff which collided with said object and exploded in the air. Some gazed in surprise, others were just getting ready. Krystal took a step forward, pointed up her staff in the same direction.

"I've always wanted to say this..." she paused and just then she spotted something on the other side of the hill, and knew everyone else had too as they readied their weapons, but didn't do anything. Each company had their leader; Fox and Krystal had gotten this one. Just at the same time several air shots from their side came and she could see the air fleet of Venomian Invaders coming along with their land counterparts and Sharpclaws. She flung another fireball towards the enemies, "Charge!" she yelled pretty much in sync with all the other companies as everyone moved forward in a battle cry.

"That's my girl!" Fox said with a wide smirk just before both vulpines took off to join the starting fray as the sky fleets were already engaged.

And thus, a new war had started...

* * *

Alan: Woohoo! Biggest chapter ever so far! (This includes other stories)  
Krystal: I thought the war was going to be done in two parts...  
Alan: Yeah, but if I did that, the next chapter would be too short. And I can say the next one is going to be action-packed if everything comes out right.  
Krystal: So when I do get to smash Scales? [snarl]  
Alan: Patience, patience.  
Krystal: I'll give that guy patience... [Walks away]  
Alan: So without further ado... 

This is it for now. I shouldn't take so much to get the next one down if my inspiration remains as it is. Man, do I feel good after having written this. And thanks to everyone who has reviewed me so far, those few comments you leave are more than enough to make me keep at it. So if you notice anything wrong, misspelled, wrong planets again [rolls eyes], do tell.

And another round of thanks to Jamie Bunyi, for a lot of help when it came to the names of the furs in the conference scenes. Not to mention Jamie Holgren was made by her. Not to mention for beta-reading for me again. So once again, thanks a lot!

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510(at)hotmail.com  
Until next time!

Chapter 9: Make it End...


	9. Make it End

Star Fox Adventures and all its characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]  
Just read on.

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 9 - Make it End..._

* * *

The battlefield knew no limits. As far as you could reach into the enemy territory... As many of them as you could take down... Thos were the only rules. At this point of the battle, it would start to go down to those who could see the best in the night, as Solar betrayed those without an innate night-vision. The clouds moving in would make it hard for those even with innate night-vision. 

Solar, the main light source of the Lylat System, was hiding already. No one really had the time to gaze at their clocks, if they had one to begin with. But everyone thought it wasn't past 7 PM, close, yes, but not yet.

The first line of each company, AKA the "defenders," only did a job true to their names at the beginning of the battle. Using their special equipment they could reflect the first volley of enemy fire, be it gunfire or energy shots. Furthermore, they would depend on their small blasters, weak in power, but fast to unload shots. They could still create a small barrier every now and then as long as the energy of their shields lasted.

The following lines were your standard infantry. After the "defenders" moved out, they started to rain hell on the enemy with their weapons while moving out. They were the most able to defeat enemy lines and score the higher number of kills due to their weaponry and training, but they had the most casualties as well.

All the way to the back, holding as far away as possible from the crossfire, there were sentries armed with double small missile launchers on the back of their hands, one on each. While they were somewhat slow to reload due to the nature of the position, not to mention a small burning sensation every time one was fired, it allowed a far better mobility and allowed said sentries to use their normal blaster with ease if the fight got close. Nonetheless, they could still wreak havoc in approaching enemy lines, especially if they hadn't break up by the time they were spotted.

"Say Krys," Fox yelled over the gunfire sounds, "You do still remember how to identify a fire arm and an energy weapon, right?" he asked backing up against her. They were back to back.

"Well, sort of," she had switched weapons by this time. Holding her staff in its retracted size for defensive purposes with her left and her blaster on her right paw. She fired twice to an advancing Venomian ape who held her at point-blank with its rifle. It fell lifelessly to the floor and Krystal muttered something. "It will all depend on the look I get of it, and I don't think I'll..." she ducked quickly breaking her words, "Have time to do so," she fired in the direction the laser had first flew from to spot Sharpclaw this time aiming at them.

"Well, as long as you know how, it's good," Fox said before unloading a couple of energy shots from his blaster to a Sharpclaw who had decided to 'mercilessly' defeat a Cornerian lupine with its claws, instead of the rifle it carried. The lupine saluted at him in gratitude and grabbed his rifle that had been knocked out of the way before rejoining the fray. Fox quickly gazed at the dim-lighted sky. "It's not long before it gets dark, and doesn't seems like there's an end to this..."

Krystal nodded, still back to back with Fox. She flung a fireball from her staff, still in her left paw, and while she didn't had the same accuracy since she was right-handed, it still struck the target, taking out 4 units in the distance, she couldn't tell if Venomians or Sharpclaws. "We have to move, there's too many crossfire here." Fox nodded and they rushed to another location before resuming their back-to-back cooperative fighting.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Sir, enemy engagement with our troops has been confirmed. Should we send the rest of our troops left behind?" The female blue-feathered avian from before, in the same blue white-streaked uniform asked. Pepper turned around to see Cleo and Sean sitting, both nodded, Pepper followed.

"Yes, signal them to move out." The avian saluted and headed out.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Come on, stay still so I can shoot you!" Falco glared at the Invader in front of him trying its best to shake the avian's Arwing effortlessly. "Hah! Gotcha!" He exclaimed as he fired the Arwing's T&B M-1 Laser Cannon, taking the enemy Invader down in a fiery explosion.

Katt's image appeared in his cockpit, "I could use some help here. I've got four of them and I can't seem to shake them off!" Falco quickly made an u-turn and spotted Katt's pink ship without problem, and sure enough, she had 4 Invaders shooting at her, which she managed to evade with a couple of barrel rolls. One was take down by a Lupus unit however.

Falco hit his booster on and took down 2 of them. Katt did a somersault and either the Invader gave up, or was distracted because he flew straight ahead, only to be taken down by the feline from behind. "Thanks, Falco."

"Yeah yeah, just be more careful next time," the avian said before he was surprised by a speeding modified Arwing fly by with the Lupus insignia. But flying by taking down numerous enemy ships, "Gee, that fur is as crazy as Fox," Falco chuckled.

Truth be told, said Arwing belonged to the Lupus leader, Jamie Holgren. And she did learned from Fox through his various demonstrations back in the Academy, so she picked up a quirk or two. For now, she was taking enemy after enemy.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Jamie, the light-brown furred rabbit opened a communication link to all of her units, whose faces filled the lower part of the cockpit's screen. "Status report," she spoke and noticed there was a missing face.

True to its name, the Lupus squad was formed by rabbits of every color variation. A male teal furred spoke first, "I'm doing fine over here, but Twix, my wingman, he... I'm sorry captain, I couldn't do anything," He said, proving Jamie's intuition right.

A female light-black on another image shook her head, "It wasn't your fault Cedric. I saw when he was shot down, there was nothing you could do with all those Invaders over you. Besides, we knew what we were getting in when we joined the squad."

Another female, gray furred this time, spoke, "For now, let's make sure his death wasn't in vain."

Cedric smiled, "Yeah, you are right Joy. You too Maya."

Jamie smiled, "Cedric, I can't leave you without support. I suggest you join Joy and Maya for now."

The three aforementioned rabbits nodded, "Roger!"

"Anything else?" Holgren asked, everyone shook their heads, "Alright, let's avenge Twix's death and end this as quickly as possible. Everyone, be careful," she closed all communications just as an Invaded exploded under her weapons.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Krystal twitched her ears as a low buzzing sound filled small surrounding area. She couldn't the source, but it didn't mattered. She saw a small explosion to her right, blasting a Sharpclaw to kingdom come and sent flying another Sharpclaw and a Venomian. Krystal looked around quickly and spotted a black, cross-furred vulpine holding one arm out with some smoke blowing off the top of his paw. She guessed he had fired a missile. The vulpine then moved away to seek another possible hit that could strike various enemies.

"So how do they secure their target?"

Fox blinked in confusion as he shot thrice to an approaching Sharpclaw brandishing its claws ferociously. "Who?"

"Those," she fired, "Furs," another shoot, "with missiles." She lowered her weapon as the Sharpclaw fell to the floor.

"Oh, them," Fox paused to duck from the frontal swipe of the claws of yet another Sharpclaw that went against them. He quickly spun and delivered a frontal kick in its stomach which made the Sharpclaw tumble down to the floor. "See those small green crystal-like lenses in their right or left eye?" He paused to put the Sharpclaw on the floor - who was getting up - out of commission.

"Hmm... Your point? Remind you I was shunned off from civilization for a while..." She used that sorrow, grieve-filled tone she always used when she spoke of something related to her past life.

"Sorry, I wasn't meaning for you to imply, whether you knew or not, I just couldn't finish," he somewhat kicked himself mentally. "Basically, the small computer connected to the small lens locks on said target, which is specified by the user. Then the signal is sent to the small computer inside the missiles to seek out the target. The lens is connected to the actual launchers by a special fiber, which is how they transmit the information. I don't know too much of the details, only what I've heard..." He fired a couple of times to a Venomian ape in the distance. "I was never really trained to use them, nor was I given info about them."

"Ah hah," she exclaimed a little roughly, she didn't meant it, but she spoke right as she blocked a Sharpclaw's claws with her staff using her left paw. She quickly holstered her blaster and held her staff with both hands. She then pushed the enemy away a little, just enough for her to quickly spin her staff and thrust it on the enemy's stomach with the front tip and creating at the same time a small fireball, which in result ended in an explosive impact that instantly took the Sharpclaw out. She knew they were the enemy, and not taking them out would do worse, but she still felt a lot of remorse.

"Uh... The sky's getting clouded... Very clouded!" Krystal exclaimed. Fox looked up, and sure enough, past the whole aircrafts and lasers here and there, the sky was beginning to get completely covered in very gray clouds. Coincidentally enough, Solar was almost completely hidden behind a mountain range far away.

"And with Solar hiding it's going to get very dark soon," he shot a couple of times to a Sharpclaw in the distance, but the lack of light was already starting to get to his accuracy a little. He was sure a shot had connected, but it apparently didn't do much for the Sharpclaw stabbed what appeared to be a raccoon through the stomach. Said lizard then fell down under a vulpine's fire, which in place was felled by an ape. The latter then started to back out.

"They are... moving out?" A running timber wolf went to a halt as his face was filled with incredulity, he saw the Venomians and Sharpclaws start to back out, slowly and still firing when possible; but they were backing out nonetheless.

"Come on! Take 'em out while they are together!" A male white bullterrier snarled as he placed his rifle in semi-automatic and proceeded to unload his ammunition catridge on the retreating enemies before they could take cover on the other side of the hill.

"Krys!" Fox called, Krystal quickly nodded before sending of a fireball in the direction the enemy was running towards. Various missiles followed, all just hoping to strike the enemy in the darkness of this secluded area.

"Shouldn't we follow them?" An orange-ish female cat asked to no one in particular.

"We wouldn't accomplish much, love," a male gray cat approached from behind and placed his left arm around her. "Even with our night-vision we can barely see. There simply isn't any light." The female cat rested her head on his left shoulder.

A light-black loop-eared rabbit walked to them, "I think it's best if we head back. Even the air battle is growing slower," he said pointing up. Earlier in the fight you would see flurries of lasers being fired, but now, now you could barely see some.

Everyone started to head back, "Come on, Krys. Let's go back for now," Fox extended his right paw to the blue vixen after he had holstered his blaster. Krystal holstered hers, and grabbing her staff with her right paw before he took Fox's paw with her left. They started to walk away before Krystal's ears twitched.

"Wait, something's behind us," Krystal whispered as she spun her head and squirted her eyes to slits to make out the figure. It was at least one head taller than the vixen and had a long tail, but it quickly sprung away. "Huh? Never mind, I must have been imagining things..." Fox cocked his head sideways, but they resumed their walk as they approached the lights emanating from the camp. Just then a laser coming from the sky fell 3 meters away from them. They looked up and spotted some still engaged.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Man, even with the radars this is getting tough," a gray dog muttered to himself after shooting a laser, which the enemy managed to barrel roll away making it hit the ground. Sure the radars gave the locations, but they weren't tri-dimensional. They only showed the general place, and not the altitude.

"Hey Bill," the image of a male Siberian husky, black furred with white spots appeared on Bill's cockpit, "The enemy units are starting to withdraw."

A second image came up, this time Jamie spoke, "You think that we should pursue them?"

Bill shook his head, "It me be a ruse, I'll take my squad over there, you two return your squads to camp."

The husky scowled, "You sure 'bout that Bill? I could send some of my Bulldog units to back you up."

"Same here," Jamie added.

"Nah, don't worry Keough. Thank you too Jamie, but I'll just head in and look. I'll be right back." By that time the last of the enemy units were already pulling to the north. Bill close the link to the Lupus and Bulldog leaders and opened one to all his units, "All units report!"

Several images appeared in the cockpit of Bill's machine, he noticed there were 2 missing... Every face that appeared just gave a 1-4 word report on his/her status. And even though the squad was called Husky, not everyone was a husky. "We are moving in after the enemy. Be ready to pull out at any minute," just then he hit his boosters on, followed by his squad and pursued the enemy.

Jamie and Keough pulled out their squads and headed back. During the fight, the small camp the Cornerians had set up was moved further south after the addition of the last troops. Mostly to stay away from the fight or make it harder for the enemy to reach them.

"Excuse me, sir," a female golden retriever in gold-yellow fur spoke over a link with Bill, "But may I ask the purpose of this?"

"I'm sure they moved their ships. If we were to launch an assault then we'll need to know their location..." he paused the smirked, "We can always push some last minute damage." The golden retriever rolled her eyes and closed communications.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The night was cold, not extreme, just about what you expect of a mid-Fall temperature in the night. As expected, Fox and Krystal were snuggling against each other, sitting in a log on the floor, to keep themselves warm. They had already reloaded their weapons, but for now, either they launched a night attack, the enemy did, or both sides would wait until daybreak, or at least until the clouds moved at allow at least a slit of light pas.

A gray male lupine approached the loving couple and addressed the dog fox (Or male in other words...), "Excuse me, sir McCloud," Fox, who was looking at Krystal turned his head around as he heard his last name, "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life back there," he said a little disheartened.

Krystal recognized that tone and look in the lupine, she had sported it a long time ago while in the orphanage. She looked up at him with a cheering smile, "Hey, don't feel down. Things like this are bound to happen in these kinds of situations," or so she thought, being the first war she had fought on, she resumed, "Instead of feeling down, try to cheer up. Find a reason to help you get through this safely, or do some training." The lupine looked at her with a puzzled look.

She continued, "I don't know. Any sweethearts waiting for you back home?"

The wolf nodded, "Only the most beautiful female wolf I've ever seen," he topped it off with a wide smile.

Fox muttered high enough for Krystal to hear, "We all say that." Krystal playfully nudged him with her left elbow. Fox took it from there, "And she knows you are here right? You promised her to return safely, didn't you?"

The lupine looked just a tad shocked, "You are right. I don't know what would have happened to her if I died here... I recently proposed to her, just two days before I was called into this."

Krystal smiled, "All the more reason for you to return to her."

"I'll try harder next time I'm out in the field," he looked at them for a brief moment. "Thanks a lot for everything!" He turned around and was about to start to walk.

"Say, what's your name?" The vixen asked.

The wolf turned around, "Chris O'Donnell." Fox's eyes shot open.

"O'Donnell? Are you related at all to Wolf O'Donnell?"

The gray lupine cocked his head to the right before nodding, "Yeah, sort of. He's my father's cousin. Why? Do you know him?"

Fox nodded somewhat, "We used to be friends back at the Academy when we were young, but lately... Well, we aren't in the best terms we could," he said remembering the past events of the Lylat War 8 years ago.

Chris looked upwards, "He's a great guy. When my parents died in an accident shortly after I had entered the Academy, he helped me a lot with my tuition fees."

To say the truth, Fox was now doubting if they were talking about the same Wolf O'Donnell, but then again, he only knew him a couple of years in his life, and while both were young.

"How nice of him," Krystal said. She supposed the fees for the Academy were high. And were they...

"Yeah," Chris looked behind him, "Well, I must be going. Gotta do some stuff with my weapon." He waved, both foxes did the same and he started walking away.

"He's a nice guy. I've talked to him a few times," a voice came from behind the snuggling pair of foxes. Both turned around.

"Oh, hey Jamie." The light-brown furred rabbit walked around the couple and sat in a large stone in front of them.

"You know Chris?" The blue vixen asked.

Jamie nodded, "Yep, one year younger than me. Well, he was one grade below me in the Academy." She paused to think, "Hmm, he's a good cadet overall, but gets easily shaken off sadly. If I recall correctly, he has an arctic wolf for a girlfriend, or at least did so nine months ago. If they are still together, this could be a little rough for him."

"Well yes, they are engaged apparently," Krystal started. "You don't have anyone special to return to?"

Jamie shook her head making her ears wiggle a little, "'Afraid not, I'm single at the time," she flashed a grin. "I've been a little out of contact with my parents as well," she sighed. "I guess..." she breathed deeply, "I guess I'm fighting for myself... And my squad. I can't leave them without their leader so soon," she smiled sheepishly. "Plus I still have a lot of things to do in this life, so I'll stick here for some more," again with the smile, this time accompanied by her right paw scratching nervously behind her neck.

"So how's your squad doing?" Fox questioned.

Jamie shrugged, "First time all of us are out on the field actually. We've lost an unit so far only, but other than that, I suppose we are doing okay. The rest of us are still hanging on."

Fox grimaced, sure, he was a mercenary, he was used to death, but death on the enemy side, he never liked when an ally went down, "Sorry about that. But it's good to hear the squad is still up. I've seen a couple of cases in which the team's morale hits flat bottom at the first loss," Fox said. He pulled Krystal closer to him, who pulled him closer to her at the same time, as a cold wind blew by. Jamie pulled her vest against her as the breeze came and went.

"Nah, we are one crazy bunch. Sure it hurt, but it only served to encourage more enemy kills. This way everyone feels they are avenging him little by little."

Fox nodded, "Say, where did the Husky squad go?" He remembered seeing the Lupus and the Bulldog units fly by, but not the Husky.

"They decided to tail the enemy when they retreated. Probably to find where did their flagships landed or if they moved," Jamie answered. "Oh, there they are," she said pointing behind the vulpines. Just a few seconds later, numerous ships flew above them, then started descending once they were far enough.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Before the talk between Fox, Krystal and Chris started...

"Sir, over here. I think I found their flagship... Scratch that, their flagships." a white, yellow-spotted female Labrador said over a link to Bill. She sent the coordinates soon afterwards.

"Woo, they really moved far away. I'll be there in a second, excellent work Sophia."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

At the same time, inside one of the flagships.

"General, we've spotted several enemy units. How shall we respond?"

The lizard hissed, "Send some of the Invaders after them."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Said Labrador soon added, "It seems we have company. A couple of Invaders are taking off."

Bill opened a link to all his units, "Fighting near their flagships is a bad idea. Pull them away. We'll finish them off once we are in safe distance."

"Roger!" every canine said and closed communications as they lured the enemy away, which followed.

"They are retreating."

"Have the Invaders finish them off then..." The lizard said, oblivious to the fact that it would indeed fail.

A set of Sharpclaws came from behind, "General Scales, shall we conduct a night raid?"

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Said General hissed, "No, not yet. Later, when they aren't expecting it..." he paused, "But do not harm the girl!"

The Sharpclaws perfectly knew who he was talking about.

Back at the camp and at the present time.

"You two talk for a while. I'll be right back," Fox said as he planted a kiss on Krystal's lips and reluctantly left her loving and warm embrace, he then started walking to where the Husky units had landed. He soon saw Bill Grey climbing off his ship.

"Hey, man! Long time no see!" Bill said as Fox was about 2 meters away. They shook hands followed by one of those friendly hugs.

"So what's the situation?" Fox mocked a dead serious tone.

"You asking me. Hah! Seriously, things up in the sky were crazy. I already lost two of my best units!"

"Ouch. What about the enemy flagships?"

"We found them alright, Not sure if they'll attack tonight or not."

"Knowing Scales, he probably will," Fox looked behind him.

"Tavalo should be somewhere around here, you should tell him to set up some guards or stuff." Both started walking away to find said wolf.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Falco and Katt were around the south-eastern edge of the camp, so to speak. Both were sitting on a big log, though with about a feet of distance between them.

"How do you think things will end?" the feline asked. She expected the next however.

"How should I know?" Falco retorted with a slight sound of annoyance, so slight that only someone who knew him as much as Katt did would be able to notice.

"That's why I asked for your opinion."

"I-ah... I don't know. From what I saw of the ground, we've received a nice couple of casualties, but the enemy has suffered more."

"But they are more than us. You know the situation in the sky, you could easily take one down, but two would appeared out of nowhere, or so it seemed. There was no end to those guys..."

"True, true, but they would go down easily as well." A cold wind blew by, the temperature must have dropped to 15 degrees Celsius by now. Katt shivered in her place, and so did Falco for a second, but he didn't minded. When he saw Katt shiver he removed his jacket and handed it to her.

She looked incredulously at him, this was the first time he had done that. She smiled and took the jacket, which she threw around her and could feel herself settle down a little from the cold winds. Though she was feeling a bit of remorse since the avian's feathers wouldn't pose to much of a natural coat against the cold winds.

Katt moved next to Falco, pressing her left side against his right. The avian yelped, "What are you doing?!" He tried to move away, but Katt held his right claw/paw down securely.

"Oh hush, I can't let you catch a cold." Falco was about to protest but saw that look on Katt's face. A look he knew would end in his defeat, for once she went like that, he could never convince her other otherwise, so he complied. He still grumbled something, to which Katt giggled. Though somewhere deep in him he was enjoying the warm from the feline's body.

They looked up but couldn't really see much for the sky was clouded. But it didn't mattered. Falco was the first to break the silence two minutes later. Without even moving his sight he spoke, "Katt,, there's something I..." Katt looked at him with a puzzled look, "No, never mind. I'll tell you later. Once all this blows over." Katt, a little confused looked at him.

"If you say so..." She trailed off and resumed her sight of the dark sky.

_It's better this way. Once all this ends, I'll... Yeah, things should be safer then... _Falco thought looking at the pink cat from the corner of his right eye.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

And so the night went on. Katt and Falco, due to the chilling conditions had to return and seek shelter inside one of the transports. Fox and Bill had informed Tavalo about their idea, so said general had half a company take the north, and one more half per cardinal point. They were camouflaged as best as possible. Fox then returned with Krystal just as Jamie was leaving for a late talk with her squad. Fox then led Krystal around as they entered one of the transports to warm up. According to Fox's wrist-comp, it was just past 11 PM.

The sky had remained totally clouded. The kind of big mean gray clouds you can see during those heavy storms, and they wouldn't allow even a slit of light from any galactic body pass through. And when you are miles away from the city in an open field, it can kill your sight.

Slippy had remained inside the R&D department, helping any late-coming Cornerian with any weapon trouble. Peppy was still in the transport/hospital, mainly keeping track of those hurt in a list, noting down names, stuff like that.

The transports in general weren't your favorite place to sleep or try to relax. While it wasn't cramped, it wasn't spacious either. Everyone was talking, gulping down some food or a drink, you could hear a fur or two laugh, almost as if they had forgotten they were in a small-scale war. Then again, a small scale war with a special ammunition the enemy had that could take them down instantly.

Fox and Krystal simply snuggled together and laid against the wall somehow trying to sleep. In another transport, a certain avian and a cat were pretty much doing the same, a little against Falco's will, but in reality, he didn't minded, and Katt certainly didn't either.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

A shadowy figure stood in the middle of a metallic looking room. It bore no resemblance to anyone Fox had seen, and even while he couldn't see the actual figure and only the shape, it was more than enough. It cackled in an evil laugh that sent a chill down Fox's spine, and he felt another chill, and he noticed that Krystal was holding him.

Fox grabbed Krystal's staff and still feeling his connection with it, the staff extended to full length. Krystal let go of Fox as he charged to the figure. He swung the staff downwards and with all his might, it connected, but the figure didn't flinched at all. Instead, it just laughed harder. Fox leaped back and readied again. He dashed once again, but the results were totally different this time.

The figure did something, it moved what appeared to be one of its arms quickly. Fox only saw that much, and before he knew it, the staff had been shattered. Krystal gasped, not only for the fact that her most precious possession had been destroyed, but Fox was also flung across the floor heavily. The figure once again laughed evilly before it started to create a small light, which started to compress into a small ball. It looked like a beam of sorts. Krystal was, to say the least, scared, but she couldn't get herself to move.

Fox jumped between the figure and her in a protective way, he was looking at Krystal, but it didn't helped. The energy had pierced through his chest and hit Krystal as well. Both slumped to the floor without effort and the figure cackled again before walking away. Everything started to blur out.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Fox shot up from his sleep with a very small yelp. He was panting heavily and sweating a little, which was only an added effect from the nightmare since it wasn't hot at all. He saw everyone was sleeping, except for a fur or two who were writing or doing something like playing cards by themselves. No one seemed to notice him. He looked to his right and found that Krystal was up, she was also panting a little, but not so noticeable as Fox.

"Did I woke you up?" Fox asked. Krystal shook her head.

"No, I just..." she stammered somewhat, "Couldn't sleep," she lied. Fox didn't wanted to press the subject so he believed her. Truth be told that the same dream he had, so did she. After a couple of replays from the previous one, it had finally changed... Not that it was a good thing.

Fox glanced to his wrist-comp. He read 3.01 AM. He had considerably calmed down by now. He yawned, and Krystal did so too. They put the dream, no, the nightmare aside and leaned back against the wall of the inside of the ship. They held each other safely in their arms, snuggled, and then tried to resume their sleep. Whatever it was, now it wasn't the time to discuss it...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The units placed outside were not only bored to hell, but a little cold. By 5 AM the rain had stopped, but the clouds still were grey colored, and even though Solar would be showing up about that time, it was still a little dark, but at least there was light. Around that time everyone started to leave the transports only to be hit by a cold wind shaking the sleepiness out of them.

Tavalo was already in one of the transports working through some strategy when he was interrupted by one of the speakers there blaring, "Sir! The enemy is on the move! They are sending everything they have apparently, alert everyone to get ready!" Tavalo's eyes shot open, "Alright, head back here, you won't stand a chance alone!"

He used some kind of speaker his ship had to send the message, "The enemy is on the move, everyone get ready! I repeat, the enemy is on the move, everyone get ready! We have to push them away, we've got no time to lose!" The yells of uproar and battle cries were heard outside as everyone rushed for their weapons, armor, or ships.

No more than 5 minutes later every ship was already taking off. Be it from the Lupus, Husky, Bulldog squads, or from any other group. All land units were already rushing to meet the enemy, who was scarcely 100 meters away from camp and some already firing. Luckily for the Cornerians, the enemy air fleet had taken some time to arrive for some reason, and by the time they got there, the Cornerians were ready.

"This is it, Krys. We have to push them back all the way, or at least we have to get to their flagship, Scales should be there." Fox yelled, again going back to back with Krystal. He had switched weapons this time, his laser sword on his left, his blaster secured in its holster on his right, and carrying a semi-automatic energy rifle with both hands. He took out 2 Sharpclaws in a small volley of fire as Krystal took one down after a couple of shots. Those things certainly had a thick cover...

"I doubt it'll be easy, we are all the way back and they are a lot more than us.... Duck!" She yelled as Fox obeyed and both ducked to avoid the crossfire on the area. A male echidna hit the ground lifelessly, followed by a vixen. The Venomians took one casualty only, but Krystal added a second.

"Follow me," Fox grabbed Krystal's left paw and led her around, he used his left arm to somewhat spray some lasers to any Sharpclaws or Venomians in his way. Fox let go of Krystal's paw as he resumed his fire.

"Fox, to your right!" A voice that didn't belonged to Krystal yelled as Fox turned to his right and spotted a Sharpclaw lunging at him with his claws. He blocked him with his rifle and somewhat bounced him back before he shot at point-blank to its head. Fox turned around and saw Chris flash a smile at him before he took down a Sharpclaw, then swiftly jumped aside to avoid an enemy bullet from a Venomian he had clearly spotted before, Krystal got ahead of him and took it down. Chris ran to Fox.

"I really have to thank you two for yesterday, I feel a lot better and nothing can take..." he was interrupted as a bullet was reflected in his armor, "...me down... Ok, almost nothing..." he lifted his normal rifle and sent a spray of bullets to a Venomian in the distance, Krystal drew her staff with her left paw and held it in its small size, just for defense.

"Well, now we are even," Fox said shooting at the distance to some moving Sharpclaws. But either his accuracy failed him, or the hits did nothing to the Sharpclaws as he saw a female squirrel drop to the ground after a swift movement from a Sharpclaw, he grimaced at the sight. He was a mercenary, yes, he has killed, yes as well, but he still despised death.

"Can we concentrate please?" Krystal asked as she saw a Sharpclaw lunge at her, she threw her blaster way up high and extended her staff to block the hit, then pushed it away to end with an explosive thrust, she retracted her staff in size and looked upwards to spot her blaster almost with her, she barely caught it. A small explosion fired up at least 5 meters ahead of her, taking down at least 3 or 4 enemy units.

Just then they saw a male rabbit leap down a hill, a bullet hit him in his right arm, and while he had no other wounds, and the fall was only one meter high, he laid lifelessly in the floor. "Ok, those bullets are the real deal..." Chris said eyeing the dead white rabbit.

"Watch out!" Fox pushed him away as a spray of bullets flew by, Chris lifted his rifle in mid air and sent a blur after the Sharpclaw which bit the dust only a bit reluctantly.

"I'll move out and take it as I go along," Chris said waving quickly before holding his rifle again with both hands as he rushed to the unknown...

"How's your blaster holding?" Fox asked.

"Hmm..." Krystal quickly looked at the energy meter, "Got a little over half the energy."

"Better than my rifle, this thing eats up the energy," Fox said sending another spray accompanied by some rays out of Krystal's blaster. "Come on, let's keep pushing forward!" He said before they started moving north taking any Sharpclaw that crossed their path, he glanced left and saw 3 Cornerians fall to the floor under enemy fire as some Sharpclaws moved south.

"Fox, wait!" Krystal yelled as she stopped and kneeled to in front of a panting female mouse, "You ok?" she stupidly asked as the women presented a severe slash on her back.

"Don't worry about me, I don't... have much time left... Just make sure... they pay... Agh!" she muttered, ending with a loud yelp as a bullet out of nowhere hit her on the side, apparently her protection was for energy weapons. Krystal looked to both sides and spotted a Venomian ape aiming at them, she quickly shot him down. She resumed her sight to the mouse but she was already on another plane, Fox helped her up.

"Why... Why must all of this happen... What does Scales wants to accomplish with this?!"

"Krys... I don't know about Scales, but as long as he's still alive, this probably won't end."

"I know," she sighed heavily, "But this is all so much like my home planet, except that it all ended in a second back there."

"I know this must be hard to you, but," he sent a spray of energy to a charging Sharpclaw, "But think of why we are doing it. If we don't do something, more will die."

Fox sent about one third of his battery away to a charging group of Sharpclaws. Probably around 6, one managed to survive and jumped at Fox, who moved sideways as the Sharpclaw's claws ripped his right sleeve and revealed a small trickle of blood, Fox turned around aiming his rifle but instead ended clashing it with the enemy's claws, he struggled but in the end both stumbled backwards, Fox without his rifle as it was thrown aside. He quickly gazed left and saw Krystal locked with her staff against another Sharpclaw. Fox quickly drew the tube from his left side and with a click of something it sprung to life as a light of about 80 centimeters appeared. He spun sideward as a downward slash fell and then thrust the laser sword into the Sharpclaw's side, spilling some blood on the other side before he took it out. He made a face before he jumped to where Krsytal was.

She really wasn't having trouble, but no side appeared to give in. Fox suddenly came from one side with strong kick sending the Sharpclaw to the floor, Krystal looked away as she made a clear shot to its head once she had withdrew her blaster. Fox looked at his rifle but noticed the energy cell was ruined, and the loading chamber, so it wouldn't be useful anymore. He clicked off the sword before holding it with his left paw and withdrew his blaster with his right.

"I think we are somewhat around the middle of both sides. Come on, let's keep moving." And so both foxes kept moving north.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Falco, Invader on your tail!" Katt announced to Falco, obviously. Said avian promptly did a somersault tricking the enemy, he quickly shot it down with no problem.

"This is going a little better," Falco said as he performed a barrel roll before blasting another Invader down. Katt scored another kill by the same time.

"They still outnumber us two to one, or so."

Falco quickly gazed to the ground and saw that most of the battle now around the middle and northern part of the field. Or at least of what he could see, he guessed that the Cornerian troops where halfway there to the enemy flagships; if that was indeed their destination. "True, but the land units are pushing forward at a good pace. I think they are halfway to the enemy base..." He trailed off as he did a barrel roll just as Katt took the Invader shooting at him, "It shouldn't be long until they get there if things keep going like this."

"Even if this Scales is defeated, he only controls the Sharpclaws. The Venomians might still keep going," Katt managed as she performed a tight turn to avoid collision with a suicidal Venomian unit. _That was a new one..._

"They would lose half, maybe more, of their support. I think that should make them bail out," he paused for a second, "But why worry now? Let's just blast these ships till kingdom come for now!" Katt rolled her eyes to that but smirked nonetheless.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Husky units, don't let anything through!" Bill exclaimed as he, and his units were in a straight line formation between the camp in the distance and the whole conflict in the air that spanned for kilometers. Much like the ground battle. You could never rule the chance that a daring Venomian Invader would try to head to the camp and attack it unexpectedly, and so far, many had dared. But they always failed under the lasers of the Husky units.

This time, a squad of about 15 units was heading their war, just as Bill had said the previous statement, they all split up and quickly took them down with a Nova Bomb and a few laser shots.

A small screen opened in Bill's cockpit, "Bill, how's the situation back there?" Jamie asked as she ruffled her purple bandana a little.

"Nothing to worry about. No enemy ship is getting through here," he said with a wide grin.

"Good. Things aren't that bad here either," she took a pause, "Shi..." she half swore, "I lost an unit." _It was nice knowing you, Mark. Rest in peace_, she thought. She figured part of her squad would have already noticed the loss, for they all usually kept channels open at all times. They all would do the proper ceremonies for those felled in combat once this was done.

Keough opened a channel to both squad's leaders. "Hey, I think we are making progress in the land! Our land troops are pushing in further and further in," he paused for a second and noticed Jamie's look. "Jamie?"

"Sorry. I guess I'm taking the loses far harder than I expected," she muttered back.

Keough shook his head, "Even after the nine years I've been in the service I still haven't gotten used to it. Jamie, you are a fur, a sentient fur. The moment you stop feeling remorse for your fallen comrades, that's when you have to worry about."

Jamie flashed a weak smile, "Yeah, I guess you are right. Thanks. And hey, looks like we are making progress up here." And she was right, it had started somewhat with the enemy outnumbering them 3 to 1. Now it was getting closer to an even number on both sides. Those Venomians certainly lacked air training. The ground was another thing however, while the Cornerians kept pushing further, they had taken sever casualties. That strange ammunition/energy the enemy had certainly was effective and it was taking its toll.

"I'll send half of my units up there to aid you. With things looking like this, I doubt they'll make another straight assault." Bill instructed various of his units to leave their posts and assist the main battle. "Good luck over there you two." Both Keough and Jamie nodded and closed communications. Bill sighed as a small squad consisting of 5 Invaders were heading towards them. _They just don't learn do they?_

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Fancy meeting you again," a gray wolf spoke to Fox and Krystal.

"Chris? What are you doing around here?" Fox questioned as he, along with the wolf and his love, kept moving forward.

"I'm heading to their base. I supposed you two were doing so as well."

"Great, we could always use the extra support," Krystal said sending a few shots to a distracted Sharpclaw.

"Then let's go! I think we aren't that far from..." They climbed up a hill and on the other side they spotted several big ships, "...here," Chris muttered. The fight had already extended over here, and for a while it seemed. There were units of everything here. Missiles streaking through the air, bullets, lasers, it was a huge field of crossfire.

"Well, I take that ship," Krystal pointed at the biggest, and the one in the front, "Is where Scales hides..." she snarled with the mention of his name. "Wait... THERE HE IS!!" She yelled.

"Chris and I will back you up as you get to him. We'll secure the rest of the ship." Fox got up and started to sprint down with the other two. Fox holstered his blaster and grabbed his sword with the right hand and clicked it on. He went slashing through any enemy in his way, and Krystal 'pushed' them around. Chris would send a spray or two of lasers to the Sharpclaws or Venomians he could spot.

They finally reached the interior of the ship. _Well, this doesn't looks like the structure of the place in the first dream..._ Both foxes thought. They were relieved by that. "This way!" Krystal announced as she started to move along the corridors. The ship was just as big as the Great Fox, Fox noted.

"Hold on, I hear something," Fox moved back to the previous junction as Krystal and Chris followed. He could hear two hissing sounds

"A nedtoh nxo Scales nuj je uwakukot..." Someone hissed. Fox couldn't understand very well, but knew Krystal could. Chris just put up a totally confused face.

"Nxe bdenj, rik xo juat no jxeict ro suhovic veh khojfujjohj," another voice added. Fox sighed as he shook his head.

"Nuak. Tat yei xouh kxuk?" Krystal eyes shot open.

She whispered, "I think they heard you Fox, let's go." Fox nodded and Chris did so before they stepped out and started to rain hell on the enemy. Which were only two Sharpclaws and without any firearms or energy weapons for that matter.

"You got anything from what they were saying, Krys?" Fox asked.

"In short, Scales is near. He sent those two to be on the lookout."

"Hah," Chris chuckled, "It didn't worked after all." They kept moving forward and came to a single metal door. Fox turned to see Krystal, who nodded. Fox kicked the door open and held his blaster looking in all directions. He didn't expected to see Scales simply waiting in the far end of the room, which looked like a hangar, with his arms crossed. The giant lizard seemed, almost peaceful for once.

"Scales!" Krystal shouted.

He looked up at her and laughed, "So I see you've brought company."

Krystal shook her head, "No, this is between you and me." She looked at Fox, he nodded, planted a small kiss in her left cheek, and took Chris away with him.

"Remember, you have someone to return to," Fox smiled as he and Chris ran away to secure the ship.

Krystal turned around to face Scales, who still was in the same stance. "It ends here Scales..." She muttered before she took her staff with her right paw after holstering her blaster and got ready.

"It does, finally, after all this time I can finish what I started," he opened his eyes to reveal the piercing yellow and uncrossed his arms.

"Get ready!" Krystal charged forward spinning her staff above her before swinging it sideward at his face. He easily ducked before trying to connect a direct hit with his right arm. Krystal barely avoided the giant fist with a jump to her back.

"Not bad, not bad..." Scales then flung his weird bionic arm down. Krystal moved away but not in time as it still ripped the right sleeve of her uniform and painted the floor a red crimson in a few spots. Still, Krystal didn't flinched as she spun and made a thrust with her staff to his neck, which sent the giant lizard tumbling back a few steps as he gagged to recover his breath.

Scales then flung forward trying to thrust his claw, it barely missed as Krystal ducked and tried to spin-kick him out of his balance, but even with all her might she only managed to make him tumble._ Damn he's heavy!_

"Hahaha, nice attempt." Scales did another thrust of his bionic arm but Krystal used her staff to stop the attack applying pressure to the point of contact with her right paw to avoid any severe damage to the staff. The thing was very resistant... Very very resistant, but just to be sure. It still didn't do much however as the strength of the lizard was astounding and she was sent flying away.

"How much can you hold on, little lady?" He mocked her as she got up. She threw a hiss at him. She was panting, but not winded up. "Almost 15 years," he started, "Almost 15 years I've been looking for you... The last Cerinian in the galaxy. I found you aboard my ship, but it had slipped my mind it was you, I wasn't expecting to see you there... Nonetheless, you have given me a hard time, but finally, after so long, I can finally finish this... Prepare to meet your family Cerinian!" he yelled and charged forward at full speed. Krystal let out a scream of war as she also darted to him.

With another loud cry she flung her staff at him, but he stopped it with his right arm. He pushed the staff back and quickly spun in the floor to make a sweeping kick at the vixen, but she easily back-flipped out of reach, she quickly spun and tried another side hit, but it meet Scales' other arm. Losing no moment, Krystal used part of the strength of the impact to spin as Scales was still in the floor and delivered the fiercest round-hose kick, both her and the lizard silently agreed on this. The impact might have hurt Krystal more initially, but she made Scales hit the floor heads-on before she backed away.

Scales quickly got up and dashed for the vixen. He swung his right, normal arm in a fist, which Krystal tried ducking but the speed was astonishing and she only managed to avoid a direct hit on the left shoulder. It sent her away to the floor with a new cut to her uniform, but no blood this time. Scales quickly leaped at her with his right arm ready to thrust it at the floor, but Krystal had rolled away in time, so Scales only left a dent in the floor. Krystal quickly recovered, even while lying down and made a quick thrust with her staff to Scales' face, which actually got him in the right eye, he somehow lost his balance and stumbled down.

The blue vixen got up quickly and while being only a meter away from him at most, she jumped and flung her staff down with all her might, which only added another dent to the metallic hue as Scales had rolled away. Krystal gracefully landed on both legs. Scales quickly rushed with another straight hit, Krystal tried moving to a profile stance so that she wouldn't be hit and also used the position to thrust her staff at the incoming Scales. Her idea failed somewhat, she wasn't able to avoid the hit, but her staff got Scales above the stomach, knowing his wind out. Krystal was pretty much just sent away as the hit got her again in the left shoulder, she somehow managed to bounce back to her feet with her left arm. The giant lizard took a few steps back with an arm over his stomach.

Krystal quickly seized the opportunity, and clutching the staff with both hands, she sent a fireball at him from the tip of her staff. Scales wasn't really expecting this, and there was nothing he could do as the fireball collided with him ending in a fiery explosion. It knocked him down, scorching his face as well. Krystal smiled to herself but lost no time before she ran and jumped placing the tip of her staff down, preparing to thrust it at Scales, but he had already regained his senses and as he saw the vixen in the air approaching, he retracted his legs before delivering a double kick to Krystal, which took the blow in the abdomen.

She was knocked away at least 3 or 4 meters and laid upwards with her right arm to the side holding her staff, and the left one running along the bruised area. The pain was excruciating and she couldn't bear to stand up. Her face was filled with pain as Scales got closer with a chuckle.

"It is over little lady... Your family first, your planet second, you now, and soon enough your precious fox!" he yelled and started to thrust his right arm down as the world entered in a slow-motion sequence.

Krystal looked up at him and her life flashed through her eyes. _My planet, Cerinia... My family... The accident, the destruction of my planet and my new life... The orphanage, the grief, the pain, the loneliness... Dinosaur Planet, the distress call, the Krazoa, Fox... Fox... My friend, my ally, my team mate, but most important, my lover... I owe it all to you Scales... It's all your fault that I lost everything I had, that my life was as miserable as it was... But I do thank you because I was able to meet Fox McCloud... You are still the source of all my pain... But I promised him... I...promised...him... I promised him I'll return! Like hell I'm going down!!_

"I promised him I'll return to him!" She yelled with all her might before she moved her staff between Scales' arm and her body. She deflected the attack before she kicked him in the same way he had done just moments ago, the strength she had summoned was impressive, or so Scales thought as he was forced aback. Krystal quickly flipped herself up before getting ready.

She placed her left paw over her left breast, right in her heart, and looked down. "I promised Fox... I promised Fox I would return now that my life has meaning!" She started, building more and more energy, "He promised me he'll wait for my return, and I can't let him down!" Krystal lifted her face, and for the first time in her life, she was actually angry... No, totally pissed off. She pointed at him with her left index, "Scales! Fifteen years of misery you've given me, and fifteen seconds I shall give you in return!"

She quickly held her staff with both paws, left one at the back, and the right at the middle so the tip was facing away from and behind her. She rushed and made a right-to-left swing with such a strength. "One!!" she yelled. Scales lifted his left arm to fend off the blow but it was moved aside with easiness from the strength and the staff hit him on his abdomen. He flinched.

Once the staff was on the other side, she somewhat let it go before quickly reversing her grab, left paw in the middle, and right paw at the lower end and swung it back in the same way with a loud, piercing "Two!!" Scales flinched once again. Krystal once again reversed the grab, and exactly like the first hit, she yelled a "Three!!"

Still holding the staff the same way she made a complete spin and made another hit like the first and third, this time with a "Four!!" She lowered her staff but kept spinning and once she was back to his front she jumped, moving her staff in a upward slash that snapped Scales' head back with a thundering "Five!!" And while in the air she quickly swung it downwards, snapping Scales' head back to normal with a strong "Six!!" and she rested her staff on her low side, still lowered.

She gave him no time to recover as the next second came by and with a down-left to up-right slash accompanied by a "Seven!!" went. She quickly moved her staff down with a small spin before she copied the motion, this time in a down-right to up-left hit following an "Eight!!" And still in the motion she spun her staff around her back before the next hit was delivered. With a roaring "Nine!!" she swung from right to left at his head. She still spun in her place and with a "Ten!!" she made a forward thrust of her staff at his stomach. So far all the hits had been accompanied by a force that not even Krystal where it came from, but if it hurt Scales, she didn't cared. The tenth hit knocked the wind out of him again making the lizard bend over a little. But Krystal was still not done... She had to repay the last 5 years.

She moved her staff back a little before spinning clockwise and doing a copy of the seventh hit, a down-left to up-right hit with an "Eleven!!" which made Scales stand upright against his will. Krystal used the momentum to jump and with a full spin she made a reversed motion of the ninth hit, a sideward hit at his head, this time from left to right with a "Twelve!!" She landed back but still kept spinning in the floor, and with another reversed motion, this time from hit eight, she smashed him up-left to down-right with a "Thirteen!!"

She switched a little her hold on the staff before reversing the last hit with a "Fourteen!!" and quickly changed her hold again like at first, right paw in middle, left paw at bottom. She was spinning. Scales knew what was next, but he couldn't do anything to avoid it. "Fifteen years! - Fifteen seconds!!" she finally made a thrust with her staff, much alike the tenth hit, but this time she created a fireball at the same time, creating a last, explosive impact on the lizard, which hurled him against the metal hue that made the wall of the room.

She looked downwards and muttered, "It's over," as a tear fell to the floor. She looked up. Her face was once again the calm Krystal. She looked at Scales and walked closer to him. Did she regret what she had done? No... She had finally avenged her family... her friends... her planet. Fox appeared in his mind and her heart skipped a beat but she knew he was safe. She tilted Scales' head with her staff, but instead of the piercing yellow eyes, there were only gray globes. She sighed in relief. She looked towards the door.

She turned again to Scales, still looking at his gray dead eyes. "It's really over..." she muttered and she closed her eyes but then felt her staff lighter. She opened her eyes.

And there it was, Scales' head, dead, yes, his eyes were still gray and empty, but he was looking at her, "It's not over..." he spoke in a strange voice, which didn't mattered as it scared the heck out of Krystal who made a 2 meter leap back and held her staff ready.

"But you are dead!"

"Yes, Scales is dead... But not me... Scales was only a puppet... A mere puppet in my game... Cerinian, he had nothing against you, I controlled him to do all those deeds..." the voice howled.

"W-what?"

"This is not over... This is only the beginning... You Cerinians were always a threat to... No, I shan't speak further, but be warned..." Scales' head went back down. Krystal was shaking, really shaking, not because of what the voice said, but this was just plain scary. She started to back away. A step... Another step... Then another... And finally, she broke into a sprint, she didn't know where she was running, but she somehow made it to Fox and Chris, who were in the cockpit with a Venomian lizard tied up in a chair.

"Krys!" Fox ran and hugged her.

"Fox, I did it, but..." She retracted her staff and sheathed it.

"But?" Fox let her go and cocked his head.

"Scales... Once he passed... He somewhat came to life, but a different voice spoke to me... It was the same voice from this other dream I had were you attack a shadow, but it breaks my staff and kills us both..."

"I... I had that same dream... But are you sure it's the same voice?"

"Yes, it said things are only starting, and that Scales was only a puppet in his game," she looked up at him with teary eyes.

The lizard was surprised, "You defeated Scales?!" Krystal nodded.

Chris interjected, "What difference does it makes? Our air troops already cleared the sky, and it shouldn't be long before the land forces also fail." The lizard huffed with a hiss.

"Let's go out." Fox took Krystal's right paw and led her out.

The sky was starting to clear. Most Cornerians were already sitting in the grass wiping off some sweat of their foreheads or the like. The sky was filled with Cornerian aircrafts. It would still leave a scar, that's for sure... The ground was covered in bodies from both sides, of any species... But... It was over... _It's finally over..._ Krystal looked upwards and took a deep breath.

Or so it seemed...

* * *

Alan: This is it... The end of the first part. The second part, which will be added here in The Fox and the Vixen (I won't make another entry) will introduce a new storyline of course. The reason behind all this. A couple more of characters with actual important roles as well. And more stuff, like another romance or something like that.  
Krystal: [With her fur all fuzzed up] Man, that Scales thing really freaked me out...  
Alan: Likewise.  
Krystal: So I'm still not dying, right?  
Alan: God no, you are very vital to the story. It shall all be revealed later.  
Krystal: Anything else...?  
Alan: I broke my record of writing again! This is by far the longest thing I've written! [Smiles]  
Krystal: I shouldn't have asked...  
Alan: Oh well, I'll see you next time. 

Here we go again. First, again, thanks to Jamie Bunyi for the character of Jamie Holgren; and she is also my beta reader, but I think she went on vacations... I also owe her a nice deal of the names I introduced in the last chapter, you know, the whole conference thingy? I made one or two at most, all the others came from her. So thanks again.  
Next chapter I'll introduce a new character of two, so I'll have more here.  
And finally, thanks to all of those who review. That simple fact is what drives me to put as much effort as possible into this, since I do know people are actually reading it and keeping up with it makes me feel I'm doing something good, and I shall not let you down. Oh no.  
So thanks again and please review any comments, critiques or stuff like that. Flames, well, e-mail me those instead, but who reads 9 chapters out of something to flame... [shrugs]

I'll see you all next time!

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino -   
Until next time!

Chapter 10: Another Beginning, Another Story.


	10. Another Beginning, Another Story

Star Fox Adventures and all its characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. [shrugs]  
Just read on.

Ok, lets clear some facts from previous chapters. First, yes, the dream Fox has in chapter 6, and that Krystal has as well even though you only realize so later on is indeed an adaptation of Yuna's dream of FFX-2. That dream, along with the future ones and what-not will have an actual impact on the story, they aren't there just for fun...  
Two, Jamie Holgren and Chris O'Donnell will also bear future roles, can't say exactly the same about Cleo Habana or Sean Tavalo, we'll see later. Also, future characters introduced here will be of importance as well... So yeah, just wanted to clear out those few things.

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter 10 - Another Beginning, Another Story._

* * *

"Come on, lets go!" A middle-aged-looking blue fox yelled as three more foxes, also in blue fur, stepped forward past him. 

"Watch out!" The one on the right exclaimed as she stepped forward and quickly extended her paws to the front before she lifted a magical barrier in front of the group just as a fireball splattered against it. Both the fireball and the barrier vanished in a cloud of gray smoke almost instantly.

"Wow, close one. We almost ended like the rest of our comrades," the middle one said as he looked around. It was a completely open and barren field loitered with several bodies of blue-furred foxes and deep black-furred foxes, not necessarily a cross variant, and only the tip of the tail remained white, perhaps a small spot in the ears but that was about it. Most bodies presented strong burns since you could easily spot charred pieces of fur, not to mention most remained lifelessly in the floor. You could see one or two vixens of blue fur trying to heal any breathing blue fox as both were encased in a soft green light.

"Save the small talk for later. Here they come!" The last one, the one on the left, yelled before a fireball manifested in front of his paws and was sent flying towards a group of four approaching black foxes. Only one fell to the surprise attack as one managed to lift a barrier long enough to save the caster and the other two.

"Reinforcements..." The first fox started as he extended a finger from his right paw from where a bolt of electricity sprung forward in almost a straight line taking down one of the three remaining black foxes before it was able to react. "...Are coming."

"They've got their own support too!" The only vixen of the four yelled to the rest as she readied herself to lift a barrier any second now.

"Alright, just as we planned it. Proceed with the operation!" The first fox, which you could say was the leader, said as several vixens stepped forward and extended a barrier. All the males stayed in the back gathering all their power to create an enormous ball of energy.

"T-they are doing the same thing?!" A vixen questioned to no one in special and with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"This can't be happening..." Another muttered just as both energy globes flew against each other. They made contact and exploded in a blinding flash of energy and everything went white...

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Ah!" A pair of figures yelped in unison in the dark. Both were breathing heavily.

A small source of light crawled into the room to reveal two foxes; a russet-gold-furred male and a cerulean-furred vixen standing upright in bed with the covers around their lower halves. Still clothed mind you...

They looked at each other and started to calm down considerably. "It's been three months and the dreams won't cease..." the female spoke.

"But nothing has happened... The only important news in these last months have been of Corneria establishing bonds with this other galaxy... Hmm, Shakray?" The fox tried as the female nodded.

"I guess there's no point in worrying too much about these dreams for now," the female sighed as she laid down in bed again. "At least they stopped being about us dying since the last one."

"Yeah," the male nodded as he laid down as well, pressing himself against the vixen, who did so as well, before both drew the covers over them. "Pepper was going to contact us tomorrow about a new mission, so we'll have something to be distracted about." The female hummed in response. "Have a nice sleep of what's left of the night, Krys."

"You too, Fox." Both snuggled closer and pressed the covers against them harder to avoid the winter breezes of Corneria that seeped through the window before they fell asleep again.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

A little more than three months had passed since the fight between Corneria and Scales' forces took place. It had left yet another scar in Corneria's history, but they moved on.

Fox and Krystal had gotten real close in all this time. If you wouldn't say so earlier, you now couldn't deny they were officially an 'item' so to speak. Though you could still think they had just met each other for they hadn't gone past all the fluffiness so far. They had gone so far as to just sleep together in bed, but just sleep, nothing intimate yet. They deemed it too soon.

Concerning Katt and Falco, no one really knew. Falco had apologizes to her, no one was sure of the exact reason and before they knew it they had closed communications with every other ship in the surrounding area after the fight was done; much to everyone's dismay. They didn't spoke about the matter to anyone else and soon after the whole situation had been cleared they both left...again...together.

Fox and Jamie were still in contact. Mostly because of Krystal since she often forced Fox to come along with her when she went to pay a visit to her in the Academy, not that Fox minded going with her of course. They often met Chris while in the Academy as well, which as far as Fox knew, was still being helped by his uncle. Fox still wanted to see him one day and clear all those unfinished issues... And possibly to find out what led him to leave the Academy and join Andross, though Fox doubted he'll ever speak about that.

Jamie was still the leader of the Lupus squad of course. They had done a very good job on the first fight and Pepper personally complimented them on such task, for most of the time a new squad was called into battle they often had a lot of problems or what not.

Chris, even though he was done with the Academy, pertaining his studies at least, still could be seen there, he often helped freshmen students or sophomores through a subject or two. Both Fox and Krystal had met Chris' fiancée, whom they knew was called Farah, though they never really asked for the second name; not that it mattered. They still didn't had a set date.

Slippy and Peppy were at the Star Fox 'HQ' as usual. Slippy making sure everything was holding together and Peppy just being that fatherly figure he usually was. Right... Back to Corneria.

Solar was creeping up again, signaling the beginning of yet another day in the peaceful Corneria. Though if you are unlucky enough to have Solar's rays smash right into your face then you can be in for a rough morning...

"I always..." a russet-gold fox yawned, "Forget to close the damn blind of the window."

A second figure, a blue vixen currently in an embrace of the male fox stirred a little with a small yawn. "At least you cover me from the light all those times," she giggled.

"C'mon, we have to get ready. I have this feeling Pepper will want us to go to the Cornerian Army Base to meet him," the fox let go of the vixen and stepped out of the covers. He shivered just slightly before he somewhat got used to the bitter-cold climate that had befallen on Corneria in the winter season. Sure, the room had internal heating system but we know the feeling, right?

"Why didn't you tell me earlier that Corneria could be this cold in the winter..." Krystal somewhat whined as she drew the covers closer to her.

Fox turned around to see her and shrugged. "I'll see you in a few downstairs," he said before he got up and left for the bathroom of the room. A few seconds after he closed the door Krystal sighed before she reluctantly left bed. She still had the covers wrapped around herself to avoid any shivers as she left the room and headed to her old bedroom to take a shower as well.

About half an hour later, Fox was already heading down the stairs, sporting a pair of blue baggy winter pants and a green shirt. "Morning," he said to the hare in the table going through the holographic newspapers.

"Good morning," the hare absently-minded chorused as he kept his sight on the news.

Fox noticed that, "Where's Slip?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, which was ready. He also prepared a cup of tea for Krystal.

Peppy snapped back to reality, "Slippy? Still asleep I suppose, he was up pretty late yesterday apparently." He resumed his reading.

Fox walked back to the table holding both drinks. He sat down and after placing Krystal's drink down he took a sip from his coffee, he forgot to cool off a little the coffee and burned his tongue slightly, making him take quick breaths for air. Once he had calmed down he sighed in relief, "Has Pepper called yet by any chance?"

Peppy lifted a finger in wait. After a few seconds he nodded to himself before turning off the holographic image and looked up at Fox. "Actually, yes. About fifty minutes ago. He wants to meet the whole group in his office at ten o'clock sharp." Fox turned around to look at the clock in the wall which read 8.42 AM. At about the same time Krystal started walking down the stairs wearing a pair of teal-bone colored pants with a light sweatshirt in the same color.

"Here you go," Fox said as he handed Krystal her mug filled with tea. She had nothing against coffee, and drank it on rare occasions, but she preferred tea in the morning. She kissed Fox in the cheek as she grabbed her mug and sat down next to Fox as she took a sip. "Pepper wants to meet us at ten sharp by the way." Krystal hummed in response since she couldn't answer.

"Any idea as to what this is going to be about?" Krystal asked as she wrapped her tail around Fox's and playfully tagged it.

"Not really," Fox shook his head, "But I can say it will have something to do with the Shakray Galaxy," Fox answered as he tugged Krystal's tail this time; he turned to look at Peppy. "Anything interesting in the news today?"

Peppy shook his head and half-shrugged, "Just about the usual. You know Corneria, as quiet as ever." Fox chuckled to that and Peppy raised his head in thought, "Just where were you two last night anyway? You seem quite tired this morning."

Krystal took the last of her mug, "Well, after the movie and the dinner we walked again to the cliff nearby here and time just kinda flew by." Over the course of the three last months that summit had become a very special place for the young couple, especially at night since it gave quite a romantic charm to it.

Fox brought his mug down, "And the dreams keep going." Peppy looked at him with concern, and with a frown, "We just had the fifth dream this last night."

"What was it about this time?" Peppy inquired. Not long after the third dream showed up, which was about three weeks after the war had ended, both foxes started to talk about it sometimes, up to a certain level though and mainly to Peppy in the hopes of finding anything, or even the slightest connection with any event at all.

"A war," Krystal started as she let go of Fox's tail. "A scene from a war actually. It was just magic, and I'm sure one of the sides were Cerinians, since they were blue-furred foxes and they were fighting against black-furred foxes. They don't really mention much..." She rested her head in her paws and swayed her tail with anguish. "It all ended in a giant explosion and a blinding flash of light."

"Any ideas?" Fox cocked his head at Peppy's question.

Krystal quickly shook her head. "As you know, I was only four when my planet exploded, and I had barely started my early studies by the time," she sighed. "Unfortunately, I know as much as you do about Cerinia when it comes to its history."

"There's just no sense to these dreams," Fox shook his his head with dismay. "Anyway, we've got a little more than half an hour before we have to head out. Any ideas as to what to do, Krys?" He looked at the vixen as he grabbed her right paw and squeezed it affectionately.

"Quick walk through the morning?" She suggested. The fox nodded and they stepped out after clearing their mugs and saying goodbye to the hare for now.

The door closed, "Young furs these days..."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

An hour later what was left of the Star Fox crew: Fox, Krystal, Peppy and Slippy were in the reception area outside Pepper's office. Fox was pacing around back and forth behind a single couch, where Krystal was sitting on one of the armrests swaying her tail lazily. Slippy was at the far end of the room gazing through the big windows and Peppy reading through the latest issue of "Cornerian Geographic" he had found in a magazine rack in the same room.

Fox approached Krystal from behind and placed his right paw on her shoulder, to which she slightly jumped. "You startled me!"

Fox frowned as she looked at him, "Why so nervous?"

Krystal slightly shook her head, "I don't know." She brought her right paw to Fox's and held it. "I was always like this when it comes to important furs. Even my father got me nervous, and he was very caring to everyone." Fox remembered Krystal was basically a princess back in her planet. During the last months with the help of Fox she had been able to finally move on and forget somewhat of her cruel past. It still hurt her to talk about the events, but not as much as before.

"Lack of social contact I suppose," Peppy commented from his seat.

"Nah, I was just like this the first time Pepper called me here while I was at the Academy..." Peppy turned his head away from the magazine to look at Fox, who smiled sheepishly. "Then again, I had every reason to be like that that day," he chuckled to himself but no one pressed the matter.

The elevator ringed a few meters behind them and the doors opened to reveal Cleo Habana, the arctic wolf, and Sean Tavalo, the black wolf. They were talking to each other as they stepped out of the elevator when Cleo noticed the Star Fox crew. "Oh, the Star Fox is here too."

Just before Fox could answer back a set of double doors opened on the other side of the room and a female hedgehog clad in a red uniform appeared. "Sorry for the delay," she apologized with a small bow, "Pepper is ready to see you all. Please proceed through." She opened the door completely and stepped to the side as everyone walked by. She closed the doors afterwards and walked away.

Pepper, who was currently looking away from the door and down into Corneria city from his window, turned around when the door clicked as it closed. "Ah, Star Fox, Habana, Tavalo. Please, take a seat," he extended his right paw motioning to the table in front of him and in the middle of the room. Fox, Krystal and Cleo sat on the right whereas Peppy, Slippy and Sean sat on the left. Pepper took the only seat in the north side of the table.

He raised his paw to his mouth and coughed in an attempt to clear his throat before he laid both arms on the table. "As you should know, we've been establishing bonds with the Shakray Galaxy," a couple of furs nodded. "We don't know their situation, but we recently got several distress calls from one of their squads, which was reduced to one almost instantly; they still don't know how the whole squad was reduced to almost nothing almost instantly, considering the Phantoms, the standard military model of the galaxy are quite nimble from what I've seen, and a flagship was destroyed as well. But as I previously said, only one unit remained," he paused somewhat at the frowns from some of the furs there. "Now, the galaxy consists only of four planets; three of which are inhabited, the fourth is extremely cold which doesn't allows any vegetation to grow normally, and that's where this only survivor landed."

"It's not like you to accept this kind of requests, Pepper," Peppy interjected.

Pepper nodded, "True, but this should help in future relationships. Not to mention they can't really spare any units to retrieve the lone survivor due to this unknown threat that attacked the squad."

"I can see where this is going. You want us to go and check the distress call, right?" Fox asked.

Cleo coughed politely to get attention, "Excuse me, General. Is there a reason in this as to why Tavalo and I were called here as well?"

Pepper nodded at her, "Yes, but we shall discuss those matters after this. So Star Fox," he turned his attention to Fox, "Your answer?"

Fox cocked his head somewhat, "You know the drill, Pepper," he smirked after that returning his head to a normal position. "But we'll take it I guess..." He looked at Peppy, who nodded. Slippy did the same and Krystal as well. "Alright, we'll be on it as soon as possible and when we get the data on this planet." The whole Star Fox crew got up from their seats.

"Contact me when you are ready to leave, I'll send you all the necessary data then. Of course, you'll be credited when you successfully complete the assignment. As to the fur who sent the distress call, the job also includes taking him or her back to his planet." The Star Fox all nodded and walked outside.

The doors clicked as they closed, "Slippy, everything ready for takeoff?" Fox asked as they stepped into the elevator.

Slippy nodded, "Everything should be ready. I'll do a last minute check up when we get there." The elevator doors closed.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Such my luck," an arctic fox - white furred with gray strikes to be precise - pacing near a ship snarled to no one in particular. He was wearing green baggy pants strapped to his angles and a blue buttoned vest with a pair of black thermal boots. He only regretted wearing his vest this day, but he never knew he was going to end on a freezing planet. He still thanked his luck that a blizzard hadn't started in the area, still... You could only see white all around.

"Damn it!" He grunted as he sent his right leg into a kick against the metal hull of his ship. He grimaced right away after the loud hollow sound of the hit. "Ok, bad idea..." He stretched his right leg and started to flex it a little to make the pain go away as he cursed softly under his breath. He sighed, "Lets give it another shot then," he muttered.

Raising his right arm he brought a small wrist-comp that rested on his arm to his mouth, and using his left paw he pressed a few buttons on the panel before he spoke up, "This is lieutenant Halbred. Libertador IV, do you read me?" He let go of one of the buttons and waited. After thirty seconds had passed he gave up again. "They must have gotten them too... Whatever 'they' are."

He paced for a little more before he heaved a heavy, long sigh. Approaching his ship's cockpit he pressed another button on his wrist-comp to open it before he started to rummage through the back of his seat before he pulled out a red, small metal box of about 30 centimeters long, twenty wide and about 15 tall. He opened it to reveal it was a tool box indeed before he started to go through the inside, he smiled as he closed it before he sniffled slightly. "Now I'm catching a cold... Perfect..."

The only fur in the area walked to the other side of the ship. Below the right wing actually. He spotted a hole in the metallic hull surrounded by scorched metal, which came from the hit he had taken up in space, which made him end up here. He sat down in the snow, next to the impact zone on the ship. He sighed once again, but just remained there, sitting.

After at least a minute he finally snapped back to reality. Lowering part of the zipper on his vest he pulled the left side away slightly to take out a picture from a pocket resting near his heart. "Angela... You were aboard the Libertador IV at the time... Please, make it home safely, I'll come back to you soon," he said looking at the picture.

It was taken in what looked to be a park. On the sides where a couple of big old trees and in the back you could see the sea, but no shore. In the middle he stood with a wide smile and somewhat blushing, wearing the same clothing he had on right now, he loved that get up. Right behind him, and pretty much clinging to him was a female lynx, she was off ground, supporting herself on the fox with both arms around him. Her fur was a mix between light brown and tan, with dark brown stripes here and there. With long pointy ears tilted slightly to the back and the sides. She had a white t-shirt with a red vest on top, unbuttoned; blue baggy pants and what would pass as the strap of a set of goggles on the top of her head. She was also smiling and her cheeks slightly tainted red as well.

He pocketed the picture where it first was and opened the box, moving a few tools aside he picked up a small blowtorch like device. Though instead of fuel it ran on energy cells, which allowed it to created a small-like high-precision cutting laser, which worked better than a normal blowtorch, even to solder things up. He clicked it on and melted the surrounding area of the burnt metal in a square figure, he removed the piece afterwards and looked inside.

It wasn't that bad looking he thought; then again, mechanics had never been his strong area. The beam that got him had only burned some wiring actually and the G-Diffuser had a small scorch, but it nothing serious. He sighed in relief before he took a roll of wire from the box.

He extended a small piece of wire before he took a pair of tweezers and cut it, then soldered a wire together using the laser blowtorch in a low energy output. He repeated the same procedure for the rest of the burnt wires before he got the duct tape to cover the exposed wire. "Lets just hope this actually works and I don't end up blowing up..."

He grabbed the metal he had cut off and soldered it back, just to cover the exposure somewhat before he closed the tool box and opened the cockpit again, placed the box in the back and jumped in. He closed the cockpit and started hitting a few switches before he started the main engines. "So far so good..." He started to lift his ship before a small explosion ignited where he had just been working on the ship and smoke started to pour out. HE quickly lowered his ship, which hadn't lifted very high to begin with, and turned off the engines. "Damn it!" He scram as he sent both fists against the panels. They flashed somewhat and showed the report of the ship, Halbred noted that life support was almost down. The collision with land must have done something to it. "If it had worked I might had suffocated up there..." He muttered.

He sighed and left his ship with another sniffle caused by the cold environment. "I hope that at least the distress signal I sent got someone..."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Fox was in his seat aboard the Great Fox typing something into his computer at his side. An empty holographic display appeared in the center of the bridge and after a few seconds Pepper's face appeared with a patient look on his face.

"Ready to leave I presume." Fox nodded to the statement. "Alright, the planet's name is Antaria, and it's pretty much, if not all covered in snow. I'll send a stellar map of the galaxy and the planet's coordinates in a moments."

"We'll call you when we are done, General." The mainframe by Slippy's side beeped as the data transfer concluded. After some more words Pepper closed the communication. "Alright, take your seats. We are heading out!"

Everyone jumped to their seats with the exception of Slippy as he finished typing something before he sat down. Krystal had taken Falco's old seat as well. Everyone put on their seatbelts before Fox gave ROB the signal to lift off. ROB complied as the ship started to lift a few seconds afterwards and left the Cornerian atmosphere after about twenty seconds.

"ROB, are the warp engines ready?" Fox asked as he typed something on his laptop.

"Warp engines, ready. Awaiting for confirmation to initiate warp jump to introduced coordinates," he answered in his robotic, monotonous voice.

"What's the estimated time to reach Antaria?"

"ETA to Antaria is of four hours, seven minutes and twenty-two seconds if we initiate warp jump at this moment."

"Initiate warp jump."

"Activating warp engines," ROB beeped. A few seconds later the Great Fox lurched forward sending everyone against their seats; ROB was hooked to the ground in a special platform however, so he was unaffected. The ship was moving like a blur and so every star passed by at an incredible speed, surrounding the space in a strange game of lights and colors. Krystal, even though this was her second time in a warp jump, hadn't paid much attention the first one and was now mesmerized at the sight that was presented to her. About five seconds must have passed by before the ship completely stabilized back to how it would normally be even though it remained in warp mode.

Fox unbuckled his belt and stood up. "Slippy, need help in anything around the bridge?" Fox asked.

Slippy also jumped down from his seat and shook his head at Fox, "I double-checked everything before take off, nothing seems wrong. If something comes up I'll let you know."

Fox nodded, "Right, well, feel free to take the time off. I guess we won't be doing any maintenance today."

Peppy started to head out, "I'm taking a nap. Wake me up once we get there please." The metal doors of the bridge opened.

"Will do, Peppy." Fox complied as the doors closed automatically. Krystal jumped from her seat and approached Fox, she whispered something to him and both walked away, leaving Slippy alone for a moment before he also walked out.

Fox and Krystal walked together through the Great Fox. The russet-gold fox with his right paw around Krystal's backside and ending on her right shoulder, whereas Krystal's left paw was around the left side of Fox's waist. They entered Fox's room. The small ray of light from the corridor pierced through the darkness before the whole room was lit as Fox pressed the light switch. Both sat on the bed.

"Krys, about the last dream..."

"What about it?" She laid her head in Fox's shoulder and started to affectionately nuzzle his neck ever so slightly.

Fox, although a little distracted by her actions pressed on. "Do Cerinians have any kind of magical powers or the like?"

Krystal slowed down with a frown as she looked at him. "I can't really say for sure. If we could use magic, I don't think Scales would have been able to... kill my family that easy. You saw it on the fourth dream," she sighed. The fourth dream had consisted on a strange rerun on the fate that had befallen Cerinia its last night. Showing pieces on Scales' actions, in which Fox saw how the whole thing had happened and some black foxes were shown, the same kind as the ones in the fifth dream, though they only showed up once or twice.

"Well I suppose but, Cerinia was inhabited by blue foxes, according to dream anyway; and you can corroborate that as well, so that means the blue foxes that we saw on this last dream were indeed Cerinians. Or at least no records of any other civilization composed of blue foxes has been made so far..." Fox paused, "You think they lost their magical abilities over time?"

Krystal hummed in thought, "Hmm. Perhaps that might have been the case," she lifted her head from Fox's shoulder. "I don't think I have any of those abilities actually," she stared blankly into the shimmering sea of flowing stars through the window. "I had only started my education in Cerinia at that time, and while I learned a lot from the time I was in the orphanage of Karenia; it's not like they could teach us the history of Cerinia." She laid back in bed as Fox held her left paw, squeezing it lightly.

"Maybe we'll know in the future."

"Perhaps, but you still remember the third dream, right?"

"How to forget that one. If you ask me, the first one was the worst, the third one comes next for me, but what about it?" The third dream, which was also the last one directly involving Fox and Krystal had happened in a ship as well. In fact, it looked just like the same place where the previous two dreams had happened. This time however, both foxes were running frantically at top speed through a corridor as the whole place was exploding. In the far end of the corridor you could see a docking bay, as two Arwings were waiting there, but before they could get to them a metal door started to close from the top and bottom of the corridor right in front of them. They started to hit the door desperately in an attempt to open it up but to no avail. They turned around to see the explosions coming in closer before they embraced together for the inevitable as the whole place ended in a giant explosion...

"Right before the end, as we look to the Arwings... Did you noticed anything peculiar, like someone moving?" Krystal returned the squeeze.

"Hmm..." Fox started to relive the dream in his head. "Now that you mention, I do think something looks out of place in the background. What are you getting at?"

"You think it was one of those black foxes?"

Fox shook his head, "No clue. You can barely see the shadow moving." He laid down next to Krystal and snuggled to her.

Krystal purred lightly, "Why is this happening to us, Fox?"

"You mean the dreams? Honestly, I want to know as much as you do. But they can't keep going on forever. I guess we'll just have to endure them together." Krystal nodded to Fox's answer before her stomach groaned slightly. She blushed under her fur.

"Can we eat something? All I've had since we woke up was the cup of tea and it's been almost four hours since then."

Fox got up and helped her up as well, "Now that you mention it, I could use some food as well. Come on, I've been meaning to try a new dish." Everyone in the Star Fox knew how to cook, and they each had their own specialty, not to mention picking up a new recipe every now and then. Krystal was still learning, but she had been improving quite fast lately. They left Fox's room after turning the lights off and headed to the cabin.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

An arctic fox paced by in the snow. A small blizzard had blown by, but it only lasted several minutes. "Amazing how even the life support system of my Ripper was blown off after I tried lifting her up... I just had to try fixing it..." He kicked some snow as he sneezed.

He looked and a snow flake flew into his eye. With a soft curse he blinked it off. He looked up again, "I just want to know what happened... It's been almost twelve hours since I crash-landed here..." He sat on the hull of his Ripper. "I wonder what shot us down anyway; there was nothing there and the next second my whole squad had disappeared and I went down." Another sneeze. "I guess the Libertador IV met the same fate, but my Angela..." He took the picture out of his vest again, watched it for a second, smiled softly and tucked it back in.

His wrist-comp beeped, snapping him back to reality. He frowned before looking at the screen as his face lit up with a wide smile as he jumped down from the ship and looked up waiting. "Looks like my distress signal got someone... Took them a while though."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Exiting warp drive mode and preparing to enter Antaria's atmosphere," ROB announced. Everyone took their seats and put on their safety belts as the ship lurched once again making the blurring sea of stars come to a halt and providing them with a full look of Antaria: A planet completely covered in snow. After a minute or so the ship sped up considerably as it went through the atmosphere.

Fox noted the small blizzard raging in their surrounding area. "Pepper did mention it was cold, but not completely covered in snow... Oh well, Corneria is going through winter too, so clothing won't be an issue at least..." He rolled his eyes as everyone chuckled slightly. "ROB, can you trace the distress call?"

"Affirmative. Distress call originated at eighteen point three kilometers away at two-hundred-fifty-four degrees."

"Alright, set course in that direction."

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

_The ship is getting closer... _Halbred thought to himself before he opened the cockpit of his Ripper and went through the back of the seat again. He took out a sniper rifle. _I'm not taking any chances this time... Just remember, don't shoot unless they mean harm... _Halbred was the trigger-happy guy type, so it often got him in problems... That, and breaking almost any rifle that touched his hands.

The Great Fox landed about 200 meters away from the fox's position. He lifted his rifle and spotted two figures approaching through the lens: a russet-gold fox or so he thought, and a cerulean vixen. He saw both of them were carrying small blasters but didn't looked like an actual threat, in a harmful way anyway. He lowered his rifle and started to walk closer.

When the difference between both parties was about of 20 meters, the arctic fox stopped and raised his rifle. "Stay where you are and state who you are... please..." He muttered the please.

"He's holding a rifle at us and he says please? That's a new one..." Fox muttered to himself. "We are the Star Fox, a mercenary group from Corneria hired upon request of your planet to trace the source of the distress call that was sent from this planet and rescue you."

Halbred held his rifle in position but moved his head to the side, losing his close-up look provided to him by the lens. "And my planet is?"

Both foxes blinked in surprise. They hadn't gotten that information at all. Krystal spoke, "Our... 'employer' didn't mention that to us." She emphasized employer somewhat.

Wesley doubted them a little. He did knew Corneria was the main planet of the Lylat System, still... "Give me a reason why I should believe you."

Fox shook his head, "We've got none. We'll be leaving now then," he turned around and tugged Krystal to follow. She was about to protest but Fox whispered before she could, "Play along." Krystal frowned but decided to comply as she followed.

"W-wait!" Halbred lowered his rifle completely and extended his right arm to his front with a step. Both Fox and Krystal turned around and Halbred hung his head, "Alright, I'll go with you. I believe you," and he did, but not exactly 100%. He dashed to them.

"Works like a charm," Fox smirked before he approached the arctic fox with Krystal behind him.

"I'm sorry about that," the lone fox said as he scratched behind his head using his right paw. "I'm Wesley Halbred," he extended his right paw.

Fox took it. "I'm Fox McCloud; and this is Krystal." The vixen topped it off with her trademark smile.

She sneezed lightly afterwards, "Finish the presentations later, I'm freezing my tail off here!" She shivered. The dog foxes broke the handshake. Fox held Krystal protectively and Wesley guessed they were a couple, but he dismissed the thought as they hurried back to the Great Fox.

So far, the first half of their new mission was over, but if only they knew...

* * *

Alan: What a way to end a chapter.  
Krystal: You said it.  
Alan: Anyway, I wasn't really expecting to break my old record. Heck, I wasn't even expecting to reach the equivalent of chapter 8, and I was right, I didn't. I could have prolonged this chapter, but then the next entry would've been fuzzy, plus - Oh! Why am I explaining myself to all of you.  
Krystal: Nobody asked you to. Smirk  
Alan: Stare 'nuff said. Until next time. 

So lets see... Jamie Holgren is from Jamie Bunyi. Wesley Halbred is from Wesley... Wesley... I forgot your last name, pal, sorry. Angela, well, she is a weird spin off from a game character I don't remember, but it was Wesley's suggestion too, so.  
No beta-reading this time. But anyway.  
Final thanks again to all my readers and reviewers. If you notice something off, typos, strange errors or have any constructive (read people, read: constructive) criticism, feel free to drop a line by all means. Flames, well, if you must, my mail is there, use it instead.

I'll see you all next time!

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino  
Until next time!

Chapter 11: Mission Extension...?


	11. Mission Extension?

Star Fox Adventures and all its characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. Just read on.

All right, I just wanted to apologize beforehand for the long delay between the last chapter and this one. School has kept me very busy and progress has been slow overall, and I don't see the situation changing for the better...

_The Fox and the Vixen - Chapter __11 - Mission Extension...?_

* * *

Corneria remained as a pretty lively place, even though it has been three months since the small scale war that broke in the planet, not even at that time things changed. The fact that no city sustained damage was a major factor in that however. 

Pepper was, as usual, in his office at the Cornerian Army Base. His work never ending to keep the population of Corneria satisfied and safe. While going through some papers strewn over his desk a faint knock in the door alerted his eyes away from the papers and with a "Come in," he looked at the door as it opened.

"You called, General?" A light brown female lupine stepped inside the room. She was wearing a light-teal uniform, no special design on the pants nor the blouse, but the latter with a gray vest on top of it in which rested part of a purple scarf which was loosely tied to her neck. And using her hair, which was light brown, in the same fashion she always did she had it tied up in a ponytail.

"Oh, Commander Holgren, yes, please sit down." Jamie obliged by stepping closer to Pepper's desk and moving a chair slightly to sit down, both General and Commander looked at each other in the eyes. "I have a small assignment for you. Should you wish to take it." Jamie frowned slightly.

"What kind of assignment?" She inquired.

"It's a rather simple one." Jamie nodded in acknowledgement. "Recently, we've been picking up some activity reports in the near area of Sector Z," Pepper paused to move some of the papers that resided in his desk looking for one in particular. Jamie waited for a few seconds before Pepper grabbed one, gave a quick look through it before handing it to Jamie.

"Warp activity?" She glanced back and forth between the paper and Pepper.

"Among other things. One of our outposts in Macbeth also claims having seen multiple ship signals coming from Sector Z, but they don't last long enough to be identified," Pepper resumed looking through the papers, searching for another one without success.

Just as Jamie was about to finish going through the information in the paper she had in her paws, a small intercom in the desk beeped. "General," a female voice emanated from the device, "Sorry to interrupt you, but the Star Fox is in line three."

Jamie frowned slightly. _The Star Fox? What could... Never mind._ She thought to herself.

Pepper stopped going through his papers before pressing one of the buttons in the device as he spoke up, "Have them wait please, I'm almost done."

The answer came back right immediately, "Very well, sir."

Pepper looked at Jamie again. "Basically, it's just a go-and-look operation. Should you encounter any problems, I will leave it to your discretion on how to handle them," and once again, he went back to his papers. Jamie didn't had to hear the question itself in order to know that Pepper was now awaiting for her final answer.

"Just one last question..." Pepper looked attentively at Jamie as she spoke. "Why me?"

In a vain attempt to clear his throat, Pepper coughed into his right paw. "Right now, you and Commander Grey are our best operatives. However, Commander Grey is solving some issues in Katina." He stopped there, meaning he wouldn't give further information, or so Jamie thought.

With a nod, she spoke up, "I see." She glanced sideways to the window in thought. _Well, it doesn't sounds too bad... I'm not so pleased with his last answer, not to mention that if a force as big as the number this paper shows, I could be in big trouble..._ She turned back to Pepper who had one paper held to his front, as if handing it to Jamie. She spoke up before taking it however, "All right, I'll do it."

Pepper's expression didn't falter at all. "Perfect, here are some details coming from Macbeth's outpost, they should give you a better idea on the situation. Contact me if you find anything however." Jamie grabbed the paper from his hand before standing up, moving the chair back to its original position as Pepper spoke again. "Now if you excuse me, I have to attend to the Star Fox."

"Right!" With that, Jamie walked out of the office.

----------

"So you are saying you were ordered to take me to where I say?" Wesley, the arctic fox asked as he walked along with the russet-gold fox and the cerulean vixen through the inner corridors of the Great Fox.

"Yeah, pretty much. But first we have to report to our general, Pepper." Fox answered.

Wesley frowned, "Are you from the military force of Corneria?"

Krystal shook her head but Fox answered. "No, we are actually a mercenary group." Wesley flinched slightly, but unnoticed. "Of course Pepper would be delighted if we were part of the actual army," he laughed to himself going back in time.

They finally reached the bridge, Fox looked around but found only Peppy. "Pep, where's Slippy?"

Peppy, who was sitting and looking away from the bridge entrance answered back, "Probably down at the cabin. Back so soon?" He turned around and spotted yet another fox. "Gee, another vulpine," he muttered loud enough for them to hear as he chuckled slightly.

Fox just rolled his eyes in response, "Anyway, help me patch a line back to Pepper." He said as he walked down the sidesteps to reach his chair, and the terminal that was etched to it in one of the sides as he started typing while Peppy used the terminal directly in front of his seat.

Krystal walked down the steps to accompany Fox as Wesley remained up by the entrance looking at the bridge.

"Hmm, something seems to be going on in the outer atmosphere of the planet that is making a conflict with our signal, Fox." Peppy announced.

"Yeah, I can see that, we'll have to do with that I suppose." Fox pressed a few more buttons before a holographic screen came to life in the furthest point of the bridge. A few seconds passed before the static was replaced with the sight of brown Collie, you could only see from the neck up however.

"This is the Cornerian Army Base, how may I... Oh Fox, hold on, I'll patch you to General Pepper in just a second." She said before she looked downwards for a second.

"Thanks Sheila."

"Hmm, he seems to be with someone in there, hold on for a few seconds please."

"All right." Fox rested his right arm in the armrest of the chair before Krystal placed her left paw over Fox's right paw.

A few seconds passed but the image still had a "Please wait" message along with one of those stand-by tunes. Fox looked around the bridge in confusion before Krystal noticed as she spoke. "What's wrong?"

"Where's Wesley?" He looked at her. And at about the same time both looked to the entrance of the bridge to spot Wesley looking slightly dumbfounded at the place. "Hey, what are you doing there? Come on, get down here." Fox said snapping the arctic fox out of his trance before looking questioningly at the russet-gold fox.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, sorry." He hurried down the steps at stood to the other side of Fox as the image switched to Pepper.

"Ah, Star Fox. Done so soon?" Pepper inquired from behind his desk.

"Not really, just reporting back to say that we found the 'survivor' you spoke of." Fox answered back.

Pepper frowned, "Need I remind you of the mission objectives, Fox?"

Fox shook his head with a sigh, "Did I just not mention I was simply reporting back. I never said we were done."

Pepper shook his head too, "Very well, proceed with the rest of your mission then." He cut the transmission there.

Fox snarled, if only so slightly. "What's up with him anyway..." He sighed.

Peppy turned around in his chair, "You know Pepper. He's probably very busy."

Fox dismissed the comment, "Anyway, so Wesley, I suppose you want to be taken back to... What's the name of your home planet?" Fox smiled sheepishly scratching the back of his head with his left paw.

"Liberta," Wesley answered. "But first, is it possible for you to see if there are anymore help signals coming from the other planets. They are in the way to Liberta anyway."

Fox shrugged in his seat, "I don't see why not."

Wesley's face went from a normal serious look to downright overjoyed. "Thank you!" _Please Angela, please be alive. _He thought to himself.

Fox pressed one of the buttons in his terminal as a _Ding_ like sound emanated from nowhere in all of the Great Fox. "Slippy, please come to the bridge, we are about to take off." Fox announced. He let go of the button and another _Ding_ was heard. About a minute later the metallic doors of the bridge opened and both Slippy and ROB came in.

"Well that was soon," Slippy's helium voice ringed into Wesley's ears. "So where are we going?" He asked as he spotted Wesley. "Oh, erm, welcome aboard I suppose."

Wesley shook his head, "Nice to meet you... I suppose."

Fox was taping the left armrest of his chair patiently as Slippy got to his seat and started to work. "So where to?"

Fox's ears perked up. "Set course to Liberta, but we'll be checking along the way for any other distress calls. Not to mention that whatever took care of the army that was stationed in space might still be lurking around."

ROB moved over to his station and made a few sounds. "Course set to the coordinates of Liberta according to the star chart provided to us."

"Krys, you wanna try going through take off while standing?" Krystal's ears perked up to the question.

"Only if you go with me," She proposed, unaware that Fox was well used to the impulse of the ship taking off. He nodded as he stood up.

"Wesley, feel free to take Krystal's chair over there," Fox said pointing to Falco's old chair and the one Krystal was using now. He quickly added, "Unless you want to join us too."

Wesley shook his head, "No thanks. I'm still a little weary from the cold out there." He walked to Krystal's chair, his thermal boots thudding against the metallic hull of the Great Fox created a strange sound with each step as the bridge was in pretty much silence. He quickly sat down and fastened the double, cross-shaped safety belt.

"ROB, take us up," Fox commanded as he watched Krystal plant herself to the floor. He smirked to his insides. "Relax," he muttered lowly enough for only Krystal to hear, which didn't relaxed at all. She still had her paw around Fox's right one however.

With the first movement the ship gave, Krystal let go of Fox's paw and tried to plant herself better to the floor. She had only felt the main impulse while sitting, she had no idea how to actually do this, if there was a way to do so to begin with. The last thing she saw was Fox standing there casually before the ship made a quick lurch forward and she totally lost her balance and fell on her backside.

With a "Oww..." she placed her left paw on her back, near the waist before she looked up to see the star-filled landscape and Fox's right paw extended to her, with a small smirk over his face. She used her right paw to take it and help herself up. "Remind me to never do that again."

"It's not so hard once you get the hang of it." Fox said as he led Krystal to his chair, in which she sat.

"So you say," she said back looking at him. "You've been traveling like this most of your life."

"True," Fox casually declared before turning to his right to gaze at ROB. "ROB, ETA to Liberta."

ROB beeped once before his robotic voice answered back, "ETA to our destination outside warp mode is of two days and fourteen hours."

Peppy turned around in his chair, "Are we switching to warp?"

Slippy turned in his chair too to answer, "If we enter warp we won't be able to pick up any distress signals should there be one."

"Besides," Fox looked at something in his terminal, "We could use the calm trip for once. We've been warping a little too much lately." He paused momentarily, trying to figure something out. "Oh yeah, Wesley, I should show you to a room you can use while you are aboard." He turned around to see the arctic fox walking towards him already.

"Thanks," he answered with a nod.

"I'm placing ROB on standby for any signals," Slippy announced before he turned back around as Peppy jumped from his seat. Krystal followed his example as she got off Fox's seat and went to his side as they started to walk away with Wesley following behind. Peppy left the bridge soon afterwards while Slippy remained to check some things.

----------

"You sure you don't want any of us to come along with you?" Maya, a light-gray lupine clad in the same uniform as Jamie, save for the scarf, spoke behind her squad leader who was doing some last minute revisions to her ship in one of the main hangars of the Lupus Squad.

"Yeah, it'll be just a quick trip most probably, there's no need for any of you to come along," Jamie declared as she kept pressing some buttons in the panel of the cockpit of her ship.

A pinkish furred female lupine interjected with a worried look, "But what if something were to go wrong?"

"Nothing's going to go wrong Mallory," Jamie moved her sight away from the panel and looked to her right side to see that her whole squad was looking at her attentively. She was slightly surprised to say the least, and overjoyed at the same time that her squad cared so much for her. She got up from her seat and with a simple hop she landed on the metallic floor of the hangar, almost making no noise.

"Commander, you clearly told us that there has been warp activity in the area and unknown units have been appearing there. Can you say absolutely nothing will go wrong and be one-hundred percent sure of that?" Alex, a silver loop-eared rabbit shot back at her. You know that if Alex got a certain tone on his voice when he spoke back, then you are in for quite a big argument, unless you decided to give in.

"I..." Jamie paused in doubt, lowering her head._ Well, he does have a point... I can't really say everything will go completely alright. But I don't want to risk any of my units... _"Well I suppose I can take some of you... But only three!" She raised a little her tone, while she didn't meant to sound harsh, and her squad knew so since she was always rather calm in everything, she wanted to stay firm on this decision.

All the other lupines started to murmur between themselves before one spoke, "And who of us will accompany you?" They all had a face of hope and hoped to be chosen. Their face was quickly replaced with one of doubt when they saw Jamie smirk.

"I'll leave it up to you all to decide," she spoke with a small chuckle before she climbed on her ship again and resumed her work.

"What?!" Her whole team chorused. _How typical of her_, most of her squad thought before they started to come up with some way to decide who'll join their commander.

----------

"Feel free to use this room while you are aboard. If you need to go to the cabin, well, you'll find the way quite easily," Fox said as he and Krystal stepped inside a dark room, partially illuminated by the hallway lights as Wesley followed them in.

The arctic fox looked around trying to make the figures of the room before he finally found a light switch. With a quick spin the light of the room went gradually increasing in bright until it reached to his desirable tone. "Nice," he said sing-sang tone.

"Right, just don't mess things up," Fox said as he left the room with Krystal.

"We'll let you know if we pick anything up," she said before she left Wesley's sight.

"All right, thanks again!" Wesley raised his voice enough for them to hear before the metallic door swooshed back to close itself.

----------

"So," Jamie spoke from the cockpit of her ship, she turned her head right to look at her squad, "Have you decided?"

"Yes," a male teal-furred stepped forward, "Mallory, Jessica and I will accompany you." Two female rabbits stepped forward as well, one pink and the other white.

"You better take good care of them, you hear Cedric?" Maya, the gray-furred rabbit, spoke from the middle of the congregation.

Cedric turned his head around with a slight smile, "Of course I will!" He gave a thumbs up to Maya before the three of them boarded each a ship. After the rest of the squad cleared the path and moved away, Jamie signaled to go off and all four ships took off with a roar from the G-diffuser in their ships as they headed for Sector Z.

After a minute or so, they cleared Corneria's atmosphere and were in Lylatian space already. "Okay, listen up," Jamie started as she opened a channel to her lance mates, "It's going to be some time before we get to Sector Z, but we are doing a stop in Macbeth to gather some more information from the Cornerian base in there."

"All right," Cedric, Mallory and Jessica answered in unison.

"So..." Cedric spoke up as Jamie frowned at him. "What exactly are we doing while we get there?"

Jamie just shrugged, "I don't know."

----------

"So Wesley, why did you join the Liberian army?" Fox casually asked from one of the chairs around the main table of the cabin.

Wesley flinched slightly to the question, but this time Fox and Krystal noticed. The latter spoke, "You don't need to tell us if you don't want to."

Wesley shook his head, "Nah, it's alright, just brings bad memories. It is also the way I met her..." He sighed, but not in despair. "Where to start... Let's see, I believe I was about twenty-one years old at the time. My family and I used to travel a lot between Liberta and Maridia, the latter is the second planet in the Shakray Galaxy, and is mostly a giant ocean. It has a lot of great beaches, theme parks and the sort. Anyway, my parents had already retired from work by that time and I offered to take them on a trip to one of the best places in Maridia, they happily accepted of course," he sighed, this time it was from sadness.

He resumed, "However, while aboard the ship that was taking us there something went wrong and the ship started to rocket around and with a couple of technical failures. In the end, we were all moved to escape pods if the need arose, and it did as suddenly the whole ship exploded." Krystal gasped inaudibly at that.

"I'm not completely sure of what happened after that. While everyone aboard the ship was safely rescued by another ship that was passing by, I wasn't." Fox frowned. "Apparently my capsule flew farther than the rest and stumbled upon a pirate ship. Of course, I only realized so later on as I was in a cryogenic sleep on the capsule."

---------- (Flashback...) 

"Wh-where am I?" An arctic fox muttered half-asleep, affected from cryogenics as he stepped out of the capsule he was residing in to come face to face with a male tiger. He was wearing black jeans, a dark blue t-shirt and had a pair of shades in the top of his head.

"Don't worry little fella, we found your capsule floating in space, so we decided to pick you up," the tiger spoke with a strange hiss on his voice that sent a chill down Wesley's spine. He heard a small laughter from behind and turned around to see a female black-furred hyena clad totally in black, only a pair of pants and a t-shirt.

"Yeah, you should be thankful that we decided to rescue you," the hyena spoke in a feminine, but dark voice.

"And I am, but I need to get back to Liberta or Maridia. Is there a way you can take me there?" Wesley, who had regained his senses completely stepped outside his pod and stood up.

"Oh sorry," a voice out of nowhere came, or so Wesley thought before a chameleon appeared from one of the walls. "But you aren't going anywhere anytime soon," it hissed and the other two laughed evilly before they jumped at Wesley, who tried to fend them off, but could only get the hyena down before the tiger knocked him out of his senses.

_Yep, even though they might have rescued me, I only became some sort of prisoner in their ship. I must have been locked up in a cell for almost a week before she came... They said they were mercenaries at first, even though I really didn't believed them for the way they treated me..._

"Damn it, I need to get out of here!" Wesley yelled in anger as he punched the metallic wall of his cell with all his might. Fueled by adrenaline from anger he barely felt the pain it caused. "If only-" he was cut off as an alarm went off. "Intruders? I wonder who would try such fooling thing."

He rushed to the bars of his cell and tried to look outside as best as he could but could barely make some sounds like gunfire. "Come on, get over here and get me out..." He muttered to one in particular as he hung his head.

With the sound of a blasting door real nearby to him he shot his head back up and spotted a female lynx wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a red vest over it and grey boots. She was holding an energy rifle with her right paw and between her arm and body for support while sending spray after spray of shots.

"Hey, get me out of h- Behind you! Look out!" Wesley yelled as the tiger he had first met lunged at her from behind before she could react, but the noise from the alarm made it impossible for her to hear his warning, or so he thought. The girl tossed her rifle to her right as she was brought down to the floor. The rifle slid through the floor and reached Wesley's cell, he quickly picked it up and aimed to the tiger, except that he couldn't get a clear shot since the lynx was trying to fend him off.

"Damn it, stay put!" Wesley yelled to no one in particular before he took down the electric look from his cell with a couple of shots and stepped out. He rushed to where they fighting duet where and slammed the tiger in the back of the head with the butt of the rifle. It wasn't as effective as a simple shot, but it served the trick to knock him out. He helped the lynx get up.

"Hey, thanks a lot. I was going to open your cell once I finished with them but you saw what happened. I barely caught your voice when you were asking for me to get you out and then he," she lightly kicked the tiger's side, "came."

To call Wesley mesmerized would be an understatement of sorts as he kept her sight fixed in her face, making no movement at all. The lynx frowned, "Hey, are you all right?" She asked waving her hand across his face. Seeing no result she stepped on his right foot.

"Oww!" He yelled in pain. "Oh sorry, you were saying?"

The lynx sighed, "Oh never mind. I wasn't really expecting to find prisoners but we should get out of here. There should still be quite a few of them looking out for me. You know how to handle a weapon, right?"

"Yes," Wesley answered.

"Good, here, take this," she grabbed the rifle Wesley was carrying and handed him a smaller gun, looking like an uzi of sorts but with energy cells. Wesley frowned at her. "Hey, don't make that face, this is my rifle after all. I've had it for almost three years!"

"I didn't say anything, but come on, lets get out of here. The sooner, the better." Both dashed back from where she had come. Entering a T-hallway they were met with fire from two sides as they quickly retreated from where they came.

"You take that side, I'll get the other?" The lynx asked. Wesley nodded in approval before both of them jumped into the intersection, surprising their enemies and opened fire like crazy taking everyone down. The alarm went down at the time and lucky for them since it allowed them to hear various footsteps coming from behind.

"Come on! We are almost there!" The lynx grabbed Wesley's left paw and led him down the hallway. Wesley blushed slightly under his white fur.

"Just for the record, I'm Wesley."

"The name's Angela. I'm part of the Liberian Army and I had been tracking this ship for a while in case you wonder what am I doing here," they kept running through the corridors. _Well that explains a lot of things._ Wesley thought. They rounded a corner and both went wide-eyed as they saw about six other furs standing guard between them and the hangar in which Angela's ship resided.

"Watch out!" Wesley yelled as he quickly pushed Angela away from the vision of the furs before they opened fire on Wesley, who let himself drop to the ground in an attempt to avoid all the enemy shots. It both succeeded and failed at the same time. While he avoided a lethal wound, he got a shot through his right shoulder before Angela quickly stepped kicking Wesley's gun from his arm to the sky, which she grabbed with her left paw and sent a rain of energy shots to the furs in their way.

"Now we are even," Wesley joked as he got up with his left paw clasped in the wound on his shoulder.

"Hah, right. Come on, I can treat your wound somewhat once we are in my ship," she said as he led Wesley inside her ship, which was a standard Phantom model of the Liberian Army, and while it could sit two persons, it didn't had much space for any other commodities. Once both were inside, Angela took off.

Wesley grabbed a small first aid kit he found below his seat. Opening it he used the contents to easily sterilize the wound he had received, with as much pain as it caused him and then applied a bandage over it. Other than that, there was nothing else he could do for the injury at the moment. "What about them?" he asked, referring to the ship they had just escaped. He never saw it, only very little from the inside, but never from the outside.

"Oh, don't worry. You saw the whole ruckus we caused in the way out. There are some of the Liberian forces en route already."

"Say," Wesley started as Angela turned in her seat to look at him with a _Yes?_ look, "You know about the accident a transport shuttle had about a week ago, right?"

Angela nodded, "Yes, it was caused by these guys in fact. What about it?"

"I was aboard it, and my parents were there too. Where were they taken to?"

"And I was wondering why that had you as a prisoner. Don't worry, everyone was rescued and taken back to Liberta. Now that you mention it, I do remember a couple of arctic foxes asking for their son."

"Oh thank God..." Wesley sighed and slumped back in his chair.

----------

"And well, not long after we reached Liberta I found out about my parents. The Liberian Army worked with the issues related to the 'pirates' and I decided to join the army not long after that. It also gave me an excuse to see Angela, and we started to go out since then and up to date," Wesley finished and rested his head on his arms crossed above the surface of the table.

"No wonder you distrusted us when we were trying to rescue you," Fox added.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

_Ding. _The sound resonated in most of the Great Fox before Peppy spoke, "Fox, it seems ROB picked something up, get to bridge on the double." Another _Ding_ came.

"That didn't took long," Krystal yawned with her head resting of Fox's right shoulder. She got up slowly from the chair adjacent to Fox's and stretched slightly. Fox followed her example before the three of them started to walk back to the bridge from the cabin.

"Nope, only about eighteen hours," he declared as they walked through the silence of the inner corridors of the Great Fox before they started to hear the impatient sounds coming from Wesley.

"Oh, come on! It could be another survivor!" He exclaimed in less than two seconds before dashing at full speed to the bridge.

Krystal giggled slightly, "He is a little too impatient."

Fox shrugged, "Can't blame him," he said before they sprung after him. As the pair of foxes entered the bridge Fox spoke up, "What's up?"

Peppy turned around to see Fox going down the steps, "There are a pair of very faint signals coming from this planet... Hmm, Alkurm I think."

"Are we going to go check?" Wesley asked from behind.

"I don't see why--" Fox was about to finish his answer before an alarm started roaring through the ship with a couple of red lights.

Slippy spun in his chair, "Fox, we are under attack! Numerous signals came out of nowhere and started shooting at us!"

Fox snarled slightly, "What?!" He jumped to his chair and brought his terminal to a side. "They must be the ones that took the Liberian squad down." The ship rocketed slightly making Krystal almost lose her balance but totally knocking Wesley down.

"Half of our shields are down! What are we going to do?!" Slippy squeaked.

"We have to hurry to Alkurm! Slippy, divide all our energy between the cloaking device and the thrusters of the ship!" Fox commanded in a yell.

"Cloaking device? Fox! What's this all about? You know they are illegal!" Peppy yelled.

"Now is not the time Peppy. I got one for situations such as this, besides, it's not illegal if you mount if yourself. I'm activating it, Slippy." Fox pressed a button before the outer hull of the ship disappeared from space, leaving their attackers with no clue as to where they were.

"Roger!" Slippy said back as Peppy just sighed in his seat. At the same time the ship made a slight lurch forward from the increased speed output.

"You two better hold on to something, we are nearing Alkurm's atmosphere," Fox mentioned to Krystal and Wesley, who were both already holding from the handrail of the stairs.

"Hmm, Fox, we have a transmission incoming. It's from Pepper," Slippy said.

"Oh what does he wants now, hold on, we are almost through the main atmosphere." After a few seconds the ship started to increase in speed as it went through the atmosphere of the planet before Slippy stabilized the ship and the cloaking device went off. "Track the source of the signals, meanwhile I got an old dog to attend to..." Fox opened the link from Pepper.

Resting his head on his left paw and with a moderately pissed off look Fox was the first to speak, "You do know how to call in the worst situations, Pepper."

Pepper frowned to the comment but dismissed it. "I take it you run into some trouble."

Fox nodded from his seat, "Yes, whatever attacked the Liberian squad just came of us, we barely made it away safely. Amazing how they could do so much damage in such short time."

"Then I fear the news I have for you aren't going to please you. It appears the general army of the Shakray Galaxy suffered another attack and we decided to cooperate with them to destroy whatever is attacking them and I was going to ask for your cooperation."

"Woah, what's this all so suddenly! Never mind," Fox shook his head. "Right now I'm afraid our ship suffered some damage and I'm hoping there's a place where I can repair it here in this planet, not to mention I still have the original mission to take care off, plus an extra... I still haven't said yes, but we'll get back to you later when we are done with all this."

"Great, I'll be expecting a call from you then," Pepper closed the connection as Krystal approached Fox. Wesley remained in the stairs, sitting in one of the steps.

Fox sighed, "This can not be happening... Have you tracked the source from the signal?"

"Yes," Slippy spoke, "It's not that far away from our current location."

"Good. Say Wesley, what kind of planet is this?"

"Alkurm? It's a little desolated from I've heard. It has a nice climate if you like the tropical. It has a few cities here and there, but nothing like Liberta or Maridia."

"Great..." Fox muttered to himself. "ETA to the origin of the signal?"

"About ten minutes at most. I don't want to push the Great Fox more at the moment," Slippy commented.

"This is some business we got ourselves into..." Fox sighed.

_Come on Angela, I know you must be here..._ Wesley thought from his seat in the stairs.

* * *

So once again, I apologize from the time between updates. At least I had some time to sort out my ideas. I get the feeling I didn't do too well in this chapter in comparison to some of the previous but... With the rush I have from school and all that, I have to fix the situation some time... 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter though. Oh yeah, once again, thanks to Jamie Bunyi for the character of Jamie Holgren and Wesley for Wesley Halbred and the strange variation of Angela Cross. And again, to all my readers and and reviewers. If you notice something off, typos, strange errors or have any constructive (read people, read: constructive) criticism, feel free to drop a line by all means. Flames, well, if you must, my mail is there, use it instead.

I'll see you all next time!

Signed as usual, Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino.  
Until next time!

Erm, sorry, couldn't come up with a title for next chapter, so just wait...


	12. Unplanned Vacations

Star Fox Adventures and all its characters are property of Rare and Nintendo. They are used without their consent and well.. shrugs   
Just read on.

All right, I just wanted to apologize beforehand for the long delay between the last chapter and this one. School has kept me very busy and progress has been slow overall, but... Let's not even go there instead...   
So, just to clear some things up, as you know, chapters 1 through 9 are the first story part, chapter 10 is mostly like a prologue to the second story while chapter 11 is like the passage between the prologue and the actual story and if you ask me, here is where we actually start to put things into perspective...

_**The Fox and the Vixen **- Chapter __12 - Unplanned Vacations._

* * *

_Alkurm... There better be a place here that I can repair the ship or we are going to be in serious trouble... _Fox paced around the cockpit of the Great Fox as Wesley stood impatiently by the glass in hopes to see his beloved. Krystal kept her sight fixed on Fox, who to her, looked troubled at the situation and she couldn't blame him. Judging from how he was feeling back at the time of the Venomian war in Corneria this should have him more stressed than usual. 

The mission has dragged along endlessly. At first, it was just to recover and take back a lost pilot, from which the request to look for another ship came. Fox thought on it and didn't seemed like such a big deal, what could go wrong? -- But if only he knew... On the way to where Wesley had told them they were ambushed, for the first time in their lives, the Great Fox crew had to retreat miserably, not once had this happened and this had Fox on his nerves to say the least. Even though that was the last of his problems at this moment.

"We are nearing the signal," Slippy announced, "Less than a minute away." At his comment Wesley got even more impatient and started to jump slightly which made Krystal let out a small giggle at the sight.

Wesley turned around and was about to come back at her but the sight made his mouth remain widely open and hanging down. Krystal, at the change in his facial expression surprised her and turned around to look ahead to see the reason of his surprise. Fox somehow took notice of the sudden silence that came after than and joined them too.

Slippy brought the Great Fox to a stop in front of the disaster that stood in front of them. It was a small piece of land surrounded by water and upon it were at least three or five ships strewn in pieces and a small mother ship also pretty wrecked up, all visible thanks to the headlights of the Great Fox as it was already pitch black outside.

"Angela..." Wesley muttered in dismay as Krystal padded closer to him and laid her right paw upon his left shoulder.

"Don't give up, I'm sure she must be okay. At the very least we should go down and ch- Hey! Wait!" Krystal tried to comfort him just before he went into a mad dash to the lower exit of the ship in order to survey the scene.

"Come on, let's get going too," Fox said as Krystal nodded in responder before they followed Wesley through the Great Fox. When they finally caught up to the arctic fox he was frantically yelling all over the place. Fox took a few seconds to look at what he could of the Great Fox, and it indeed looked in a bad shape...

"Angela!" He shouted with all his lungs and waited no more than two seconds before sending out another "Angela!!!" into the air. He waited another second and attempted a third time, but after that he sunk to his knees in the floor and laid his head down. "Please..." He muttered, "Answer me..."

Fox and Krystal nodded to themselves and started to move the scrap from the ships away and started to look not only for the source of the signal but for any life signs. "What are you... doing...?" Wesley asked in a dark, sad tone.

"Looking for any life signs of course. You should try helping, maybe we can find someone," Fox said back at him as he tried pushing a rather big heap of metal away under the spotlight of the unmoving Great Fox.

"Why... It will be in vain... You are seeing this scene, it's unlikely someone survived..." He didn't lift his face at all, he still remained as when he first fell.

Krystal couldn't understand the fox at the time. She knew that if something ever happened to her Fox would go crazy looking for her, she was completely sure of it, but if this fox claimed to love the lynx as much as he did, then why was he giving up now. Her face angered up a little as she walked closer to Wesley and stood in front of him.

Wesley, at the sight of her feet found the will to look up, but was quickly forced to look at a side as a loud slap brought the attention of the red fox to watch what had just happened.

There, in the middle of the scrap stood Krystal with a paw straightened out to a side and Wesley's head looking to the other side. The arctic fox brought up a paw to his cheek. "I can't believe what you are saying!" Krystal shouted at him.

"Wha..." Wesley, still in disbelief looked up at her.

"You claim you love her so much. You told us about many times you were together and how much you cared for her. You even say she was the reason you joined the Liberian Army and yet..." she paused, "And yet you don't even try searching for her!"

"Krystal..." Wesley muttered back.

"You can't say for sure she is dead. So what if this place isn't the best place to be, you were also attacked and managed to survive, what makes you think she couldn't!"

"I-I..."

Fox walked closer and placed both paws on Krystal's shoulders. "She makes a very valid point here, you know?"

Wesley stood up and Krystal started to visibly relax as her breathing and face complexion returned to normal. "I'm sorry for that Wesley, but you left me no choice in your current state."

The fox shook his head, "No, I had that one coming. Thank you, Krystal." She smiled to that. "Come on, we should head to the remnants of the mother ship. The signal must have originated from there."

"That Krystal..." Peppy muttered to himself from inside the cockpit.

----------

"Well, this place doesn't looks so bad on the inside as it did from the outside..." Fox exclaimed as they entered the blackness of the mother ship. Several wrecks in the outer hull allowed some of the light that the Great Fox produced to filter through. The current situation wasn't of some much problem for their innate night-vision trait.

"The main computer room should be down here..." Wesley announced, "Damn, it's blocked." A pile of scrap blocked the only entrance to the room.

"Hold on," Fox said as he pulled out his blaster and started to send off a few shots at the metal, blowing up some pieces here and there. "Ok, now, lets try to pull it out of the way. Wesley, take that side. Krystal, help me over here," he said as the three foxes worked in union to move the obstacle.

"Now that that is out of the way, lets g-- Angela!!" Wesley scram in horror at the sight of his girlfriend strewn upon the floor of the chamber. He quickly rushed to her side and much to his content, she was still breathing. Her clothing was torn up in various places and several spots were stained with blood. Her fur was mangled up but thankfully, it seemed like she didn't had any lethal wounds.

"Angela! Angela! Answer me!"

The lynx stirred up very slightly and opened an eye. "Wesley? Is that you?" He grabbed her right paw and stroked her head reassuringly.

"Yes, it's me. Everything will be fine now, just hold on."

"I'm so glad... you came... I could barely..." She stopped there.

"Angela!" Wesley shouted as the vulpine couple in the back took a few steps closer.

"She is still alive, but her vital signs are weak. We should get her back to the Great Fox quickly and have ROB treat her while we get her to a hospital."

Wesley picked Angela up and started to walk at a faster pace as they headed out. _Please hold on... Please hold on..._

----------

The trio of foxes ran frantically through the hallways of the Great Fox as they made their way to the med room. As they ran, Fox pressed one of the buttons on his wrist-comp and yelled into it, "Peppy, Slippy, anyone, send ROB over to the med room, quickly!"

Slippy answered back from the other side, "Ahead of you Fox, he is already on his way."

Wesley heaved a sigh of relief as he heard that. "Thanks, Slip," Fox's voice cut through his thoughts as he then closed the link to the cockpit of the Great Fox. "Just bend to the right here and we are there."

Just as Fox said, Wesley turned around to the right and entered the only room in the vicinity, only to be surprised by the presence of ROB.

"Please lay miss Angela in the table," he ordered in his robotic voice as Wesley complied without question.

Fox entered the room and led Wesley out of it. "It's best that you let ROB work." At Wesley's expression he quickly added, "Don't worry, ROB has treated us many times and we are as good as new, she is in good hands."

Wesley took a few seconds to think on it but believed in Fox's words and headed out. "You should probably go rest, it's getting late after all."

Wesley shook his head, "No, I'll wait here."

Krystal was about to protest against that but Fox motioned to her not to. It was Wesley's decision after all to remain here and both knew he wanted to see her the first minute he could. Both Fox and Krystal started to walk away.

----------

"I'm going to make a quick stop by the bridge and then gonna grab something from the cabin," Fox spoke as they walked through the gray-colored hallways of the Great Fox. "You rather meet me in the room or follow?"

Krystal hummed, "I'll meet you at the cabin, I'll fix up some quick late dinner," she kissed him in the cheek before they parted ways.

Fox entered the cabin only to find Slippy sleeping in his chair. He approached him and nudged him in the shoulder. As he stirred in his place and opened an eye, Fox spoke, "You better sleep in your own bed or you are going to end up with a sore back. Don't worry about the Great Fox, there's nothing we can do right now."

It took Slippy a few seconds to grasp all that in, "Oh ok, thanks Fox," he said before standing up and groggily walk away. Fox chuckled at the sight before he jumped on his seat, brought his terminal to his side and typed in a few things. After a couple of seconds he left his chair and the cabin altogether; making his way down to the cabin.

----------

"Gotta love your idea of late dinner," Fox laughed as he entered the cabin, looking at one of those 'instant' pizzas one could prepare in just matter of minutes.

Krystal, who was currently in the kitchen section, turned around, "Well, I did said quick late dinner and you know I can't cook really well," she said adding the finishing touches to their 'quick dinner'.

Fox walked to her side and helped her bring the plates to the nearby table, "I don't have anything against it, but that's pretty much what everyone has as a quick, late dinner back in Corneria. You just nailed it," he pulled Krystal's chair for her to sit down once he had placed down the plates. Once the vixen took her place, he sat in the chair next to it.

They started to eat quietly after Fox had poured both of them a drink. They continued in silence for a few moments before Krystal broke the silence, "So what happens now?"

Fox raised a finger in wait because he had a piece of a slice inside his mouth, after a few seconds he gulped it down and answered, "I pretty much don't know. For now, we have to find a place in this planet that can hopefully repair the damage the ship suffered, or at least patch it good enough to reach Liberta... After that, it's pretty much up to the Liberians on what to do, since Peppy did asked of us to assist them..."

Krystal pondered on that a little, but before she could speak, Fox added, "But don't worry, for now, I suspect we are going to have to remain on this planet for another day or two. I asked Wesley about this place and he said there are a few good things here, even though it's mostly desolated."

Krystal cocked her head to the side, "So we are taking an unplanned vacation?"

Fox's eyes sparked up, "Hey, now that you mention it, that's a nice way of putting things," he paused. "I suppose you are right though. This will give time for Angela to recover as well."

At the same time, the cerulean vixen had finished her last piece, and Fox did as well. "I hope she gets better soon. Wesley... He seems to be very attached to her, especially because of the way he acted when he thought it was all over..."

"By what he told us, he really seems to care for her," Fox said trying to stifle a yawn. He looked at the clock in the wall to his right and read 11.38 PM. "It's getting late, we should go to sleep."

The vixen yawned behind her paw as she looked at the clock. She looked in surprise to find out it was this late already. She sipped down the last of her drink, the same as her dinner partner and both stood up taking the dishes back to the automatic washer in the kitchen and left the cabin, paws interlocked.

As they walked through the corridors, Krystal stopped at an intersection, "You think we should go with Wesley?"

Fox shook his head, "It's best if we let him be for now. He has much to cope with right now." Krystal nodded.

"You are probably right," she stifled another yawn under her left paw. They continued walking through the dull corridors before they stood in front of the entrance to Fox's room. The door slid open automatically and both entered. As their paws left their embrace, Krystal entered the bathroom while Fox started to change into his sleeping clothes, which consisted on a pair of green boxers and a white shirt.

He walked to the window of his room and gazed to the stars in the atmosphere. After a few moments Krystal entered the bedroom once again, now in her sleeping cloth, a full-length, sky blue nightgown. Fox turned around while Krystal walked towards him. They kissed briefly and after a "Good night," from both, they crawled into bed and went to sleep.

----------

In the other end of the Great Fox, Wesley had started to walk impatiently in a straight line from one place to another and backwards. Time seemed to slow down in where a minute seemed like an hour to him.

He couldn't take much more of this. He was about to head inside the room but just before he stood in front of the door, it opened and ROB was at the archway. "Subject Angela is now recovering from her wounds. She will need rest for a day or two before she is fully operational again," ROB spoke.

A smile crept its way into Wesley's face in less than a fraction of a second as he heard this. "Ca-can I see her?!" He asked anxiously.

"Affirmative," ROB answered, "Be sure not to disturb her much, she isn't fully recovered yet and is very weak." The robot moved out of the way and Wesley entered the room. ROB left after that.

Wesley knelt next to the bed were Angela laid. She wasn't looking that bad. Most of the wounds she had were hidden under bandages, and some were stitched with perfect precision. Wesley took one of Angela's paw between his own and kissed it gently. "I'm so glad you are okay," he sighed in relief.

Angela stirred slightly in the bed. She opened an eye and tilted her head enough to see her boyfriend there. "Wesley," she spoke in a low, faint tone.

The arctic fox looked up at her in surprise, with a face that spelled joy all over the place. "Shhh, don't talk. Just lay back and rest."

If Angela could shake her head, she would have done it. "I-I'm okay... Sort of... But... Where am... I?" She managed to ask.

Wesley stroke the back of her paw reassuringly, "Don't worry. We are inside the Great Fox, the ship of the Cornerian squad that was assigned to rescue us. We are currently on Alkurm, still in front of the place where we found you."

Angela sighed as much as her current situation allowed her to, "What about... the rest?" She asked.

Wesley shook and hung his head, "There was no one else. You were the only one we found inside the mother ship, the rest of the crafts were reduced to nothing but scrap metal..."

Angela laid her head back, somewhat shocked that her whole squad was reduced to only two in just seconds... "What is... the Liberian..." She started to speak but Wesley cut her.

"Don't worry about that now. First comes your health, then we can worry together about what the Liberian Military has to say about this," he kept rubbing the back of her paw affectionately, "For now, just try to rest. I'll be here if you need anything," he smiled to her as he stood up, placing her paw to her side before kissing her in the cheek.

"Thank you, Wesley..." she muttered before she passed out. Wesley knew it was for the strain, so he didn't worry. He grabbed a nearby chair, placed it next to the bed and laid his head next to hers as he tried to sleep.

----------

"Krystal..."

The blue vixen stirred slightly before opening an eye. She quickly opened the other as she found herself in a void of darkness. "What? Where am I?" She asked to no one in particular.

"Krystal..."

"Who are you?" She snarled, entering into a fighting stance in her place.

"Do not fear," the voice repeated and a faint figure encased in a blue light appeared in front of them. Krystal receded back into her normal stance, if only a bit agitated. "You, who come from the long chain of Cerinians possess powers you are not even aware of," the voice went on.

"Powers? What do you mean...?" Krystal took a step closer, slightly intrigued by this subject's words.

"Us Cerinians have possessed a special kind of powers ever since we came to be, and so have the Inferians."

"Inferians... Those black foxes? Who are they?" Krystal asked, forgetting about this 'power'.

"For centuries, Cerinians had been fighting a war with the Inferians, the inhabitants of the only moon of Cerinia," he started. "The reason of the conflict was forgotten long time ago, both races fighting only as their hearts told them too to follow their heritage," he spoke.

Krystal nodded dumbfounded, not really getting all of this, "Then perhaps it were the Inferians the actual culprits for destroying Cerinia?"

The figure nodded, or so Krystal thought, "In a matter of speech. Inferians were skilled in mind affecting abilities, such as switching themselves with another entity, or simply taking over it if their will is too low, this is how they made this Scales destroy the planet, as well as by taking control of several Cerinians who had become aware of their plans."

Krystal hung her head, _Then, Scales wasn't really guilty... I always wondered about what he meant when he, or whatever possessed him said that it wasn't over yet... I suppose this is what it means..._ "But why are you telling me this?"

The figure shook his head, "You will see soon enough, for now, remember that you alone are the last hope of the Cerinians to win this conflict, you possess powers that can rival those of the Inferians. I'm saddened to admit this, but when we found out that you had these powers, we thought about raising you as a fighting machine..."

To say that Krystal was shocked at the sudden explanation would be an understatement. "So that's it? I'm no more than a fighting machine?!" She yelled.

The figure shook his head once again, "In the end, we didn't do anything. But have you not found a reason for your life?" He asked; Krystal knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Fox..." She whispered, "But still..." She lowered her head.

"Focus Krystal, whenever you two are in a dire situation; focus, and you'll know the meaning of your power," the aura encasing the figure faded, leaving a tall, blue fox dressed in a white robe with a red cape on top, lined with several golden trims. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but you'll figure it out. You always made your father proud..."

Krystal raised her head in a heartbeat, recognizing the figure immediately, "Fa-father!" The figure started to walk away from her. She tried to pursue him, but as hard as she ran, she never seemed to get closer. "Father!" She called, "Father!"

"I'm sorry, Krystal..."

----------

"Father!" Krystal jumped into an upright position in bed, jolting awake the fox sleeping next to him. She was panting heavily, making her chest rise and fall violently and visibly, even in the darkness that shrouded the room.

"Krys," Fox stifled a yawn, "You alright?" He asked.

She turned around to look at his worried face. She smiled vaguely and nodded, "Yeah, don't worry... Just... Just a bad dream, we'll talk about it tomorrow," she answered.

Fox sat next to her, placing his left paw over her right shoulder, "You sure? We can talk right now if you wish to," he offered.

Krystal shook his head, placing her left paw over the one Fox placed in her shoulder, "Yeah, thanks for offering, but don't worry."

Fox eyed her carefully but sighed in defeat, "If you say so," he said but never laid back. He waited until Krystal started to lay back before following her. And in the end, she was able to fall asleep, if only after so much thought on whatever the dream meant...

_A special power... That will help me protect myself and Fox... _

----------

A faint knock in the door to Fox's room made the russet-gold fox stir in his sleep. He opened an eye and blinked a few times to clear the blur of his vision before a second set of knocking came with a faint, "Fox?"

The fox carefully removed his arms from around the vixen's body as he moved out of bed and went to the door, where he found Slippy, "What is it?"

"Peppy says breakfast is ready and Wesley is going to help us find a place to fix the ship."

Fox nodded, "Great, we'll be down there in a few moments." Slippy acknowledged that and walked away. Fox headed back to his bed where Krystal still laid sleeping. He nudged her slightly in the shoulder to wake her up. After the third try, she finally opened an eye.

"Come on, we have to get ready. Breakfast is waiting for us and after that we are moving in search of a place to repair the ship," Fox said as Krystal sat upright in bed, stretching out with a small yawn.

"I guess I'll head to my room to get ready, see you at the cabin in a few moments then?" She strolled in front of Fox.

"Of course," they kissed briefly before Fox grabbed a quick change and entered his bathroom while Krystal put on a bathrobe and headed outside the room, making her way to her own.

----------

Fox was sitting in one of the chairs near the counter in the kitchen as the door slid open, from which Krystal entered a second later. She smiled at Fox, who was wearing a pair of black pants, with a plain white t-shirt and seemed to be waiting for her to eat together. Krystal was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a somewhat tight black blouse, topped off with all her usual accessories; you know, bracelets, necklaces, the jewel in her head...

Fox got up and walked around the counter and pulled two dishes covered with a silver plate on top of them. Krystal sat in the table and Fox placed a dish in front of her and the other next to it. Krystal took the silver plate on top off to reveal a couple of pancakes lined one on top of another. Fox took the time to head back to the fridge.

"Milk or juice?" He asked.

Krystal turned her to the side, "Milk please," she answered as Fox nodded before pulling off a carton of milk and pouring down two glasses to the brim with it. He put the carton inside the fridge again and walked back to the table, setting a glass next to Krystal's plate and the other next to his as he sat down.

They started to eat in silence, and after about fifteen minutes, they were done. "Who made breakfast by the way?" Krystal asked as she helped Fox place the dishes in the automatic washer.

"Peppy."

"Remind me to thank him later for a great breakfast then," she smiled before they started to head up to the bridge.

----------

The metallic doors slid open as the vulpine couple entered the bridge, where Slippy and Peppy were already checking through some stuff.

"Sorry for the delay, where's Wesley?" Fox asked.

"Right here," came from behind them. "Sorry, I was just checking on Angela to see if she needed anything."

Krystal's smile faded slightly as her expression turned into a worrisome one, "How is she doing?" She asked as Wesley started to head down the stairs.

"Good," he smiled, "Very good," he reached the base of the stairs before Fox and Krystal headed down as well.

Jumping in his chair, Fox brought his terminal to his side, "All right, lets get going with this..." he said. "According to the maps we were given, these should be our current coordinates..." He said typing a few things.

Wesley walked closer and looked at the screen. He nodded looking at the overhead view of the planet. "If I remember correctly, the biggest settlement here in Alkurm should be about..." he brought his paw to his chin. Two seconds later he snapped his fingers, "About one-hundred-ninety miles to the east of here."

_He seems like a totally different fur now... _Fox thought before he snapped back to reality, "Err, sorry, about two-hundred miles or less to the... east right?"

Wesley nodded, "Pretty much, give or take a few. I haven't had to come here very often actually."

"Setting straight course towards the east of our current position," Slippy announced from his terminal, "Given our current situation, we should be able to make it in..." he paused, awaiting for ROB's input.

"To avoid mechanical failures in the ship, the speed must be decreased. Increasing travel time to approximately one hour, twenty-five minutes," ROB finished Slippy's sentence.

"Lets get moving then," Fox said typing a few things in his terminal before the Great Fox started to hum from the engines starting up as the metallic mass hovered over the ground. After a few more seconds it elevated to about a hundred miles above the surface; and with a small lurch, it turned around, and once it was pointing to the east, it started to move forward; at first slowly, but gradually picking up the pace. But still slower than it could normally reach.

"Fox," Peppy spoke from his chair as Fox turned to look at him with an inquiring face, he continued, "I'm afraid this will drain most of our resources unless we ask for an advancement pay, and you know how Pepper is about that..." he trailed off.

Fox sunk his head in his paw in thought... "True," he lifted his head, "But do we have any other choice than repairing the ship? If something were to surprise us again, you know as well the ship won't make it through..."

"You are right," Peppy said in defeat. "Let's just try to stay out of trouble for a while..."

Fox jumped off from his chair, "Tell that to whoever attacked us," he smirked. "Well, take some time off you two, it's not like we can do much in our current situations, and the repairs might take a while, so use this time to wind off," he said as he started to walk up the stairs.

"Catch you in a few," Krystal whispered to him as he passed by. Wesley had taken the set of stairs on the other side of the bridge and left the room slightly before Fox. She turned around to the frog, hare and robot. "How much do you think we'll be in this planet?"

Slippy turned around in his chair as he shrugged, "Honestly, can't say for sure. The damages are quite extensive in the outer hull..." He motioned to the monitor behind him giving a general status report of the ship, in which several areas of the outer hull were flashing red. "At the very least, a day or two," he spun around in his chair back to the terminal.

"Why do you ask?" Peppy asked from Krystal's side.

"Oh, no particular reason, just wondering," she smiled before she started to stroll towards the exit of the bridge.

Krystal walked through the inner hull of the Great Fox, not really paying attention to where she was going... _That dream... I doubt Fox had it as well... Perhaps, no..._ She shook her head._ I suppose he is down in the cabin. I better tell him about this._ She took a few seconds to figure out where she was before making her way to the cabin, where sure enough, he found Fox looking through the window, seeing the surface of the planet pass by.

He turned around, but before he could say anything, Krystal spoke. "Fox, about today in the morning..."

Fox walked towards her, leading her to one of the couches in the middle of the room where they sat, "Yes?"

"Did you had another dream?" She eyed him carefully.

The russet-gold fox shook his head, "No, the last one I had was the one about the war scene. Why? You had another dream?" He asked curiously.

She nodded weakly, "Sort of... Now I know the real culprits of the demise of my planet... The black foxes, the Inferians were actually behind it..."

"What did you saw in the dream?"

"My father..." A tear dwelled up in her right eye, "My father spoke to me. He told me about several things on Cerinia and the Inferians..." She decided to leave the part about her powers out of the subject for now, she still had to find more about it first.

Fox carefully wiped off the tear from his eye, "But how did they managed to destroy your planet? I mean, I saw some parts of it on the fourth dream, but I still have no idea what that was about," he declared.

Krystal sighed, "All I know, is that Inferia was a moon of Cerinia, in which these black foxes lived. My father didn't tell me of the reason, he said the purpose of their fighting had been lost in time, but that the Inferians possess a certain type of mind controlling abilities, which is how they managed to get Scales to do part of their bidding."

Fox laid back in the couch. _So in the end Scales wasn't actually the real culprit... But even if he was being possessed, he still gave a hell to her... _"But what is all that supposed to mean?" He asked, but before her answer came he quickly added, "I mean, why now?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. My father just said that, and then he faded away. I tried chasing him in vain and that's when I woke up."

Fox was about to speak but the door of the cabin opened at the time as Wesley walked in. Fox decided to keep silence; no sense I'm mixing up someone else about their dreams for now.

"Oh, sorry, didn't knew you were here," Wesley said and started to backtrack.

"Ah, don't worry," Krystal announced, agreeing with Fox's thoughts, "We were just talking," she smiled.

Wesley stopped in his place, "Oh, Angela seems to be doing ok and is sleeping right now, so I decided to head up here for a while," he started to walk towards the couple.

"So how is Angela doing?" Fox asked, trying to steer away the conversation from their previous topic.

"She should be able to come along with me into land once we reach the settlement, besides, she needs to get a new set of clothing for now," he said. Her current attire, was, well, torn in several places from the hits, cuts and scratches she suffered on the 'landing' of her ship.

And so they continued making small talk until the last hour to reach the settlement passed by, at which time Wesley headed back to the med room to get Angela as Fox and Krystal waited for them before boarding off.

----------

Fox was already waiting by the exit before Krystal came running, "Sorry for the wait."

"Oh, don't worry, they aren't here yet," he noticed she had her staff attached to her right thigh, as she did in previous times. He frowned, "Why are you carrying your staff?"

She smiled, "You never know," she declared casually.

Before Fox could retort to that, Wesley and Angela came from around a corner. Angela still seemed slightly weak and was using Wesley as a support.

Krystal was the first to speak, "Nice to see you are feeling better. You were looking pretty bad when we found you," she smiled.

Angela, the light brown, light tan furred lynx with dark brown stripes had her ears plopping down to the sides. She had several bruises along her body, some were barely visible by now, others were still cicatrizing. Her current attire, consisting on a pair of baggy pants with a camouflage design and a green t-shirt were torn up in several places. Her grey boots were intact however. Overall, she didn't looked as best as she could, that's for sure.

"Yeah," the lynx replied a little weakly, "Thanks for rescuing us, hmm..." she paused, not knowing their names.

"Oh yeah, this is Fox," Wesley pointed at the russet-gold furred vulpine, "And she's Krystal," he pointed to the cerulean furred vixen next to him.

_It WAS part of the mission... _"Glad to help, I guess," Fox said.

"Well, are we ready to head off?" Krystal asked.

Wesley looked around, "What about Peppy and Slippy?"

"Peppy will head down later, Slippy says he wants to help with the repairs," Fox answered as they started to head down the ramp.

Fox and Krystal were walking in the front while Angela and Wesley exchanged a few words behind them, "So what are we doing here anyway?" Angela asked to her boyfriend.

"We were attacked as well while nearing the planet and forced to come down, so they are going to repair their ship, and in the meanwhile we have a day or two to 'cool off'," he answered, "Besides, we have to find you some clothing."

Angela looked down at her clothes, sure, they were quite ragged, but she couldn't fight the temptation, "Oh come on, don't tell me you don't like seeing so much fur exposed" She teased him.

The arctic fox blushed visibly under his white coat, "Oh I don't have problems with it," he smiled, feeling slightly more relaxed, "I just don't want other furs to keep staring at you," he said. She laughed, laying her head on his shoulder.

The settlement was all that awesome in reality. It was pretty much in the open air, and the place was mostly arid. The Great Fox was stationed inside a hangar, which was in fact the only building of considerable size in the whole place. On each side of the roads you could see a few hover cars fly by, or various shops, houses, small buildings and the like.

Strangely enough, for a mostly arid planet, the air blowing by was actually refreshing. Fox and Krystal turned around waiting for the other couple to catch up, "So," Fox started, getting the couple's attention, "Any good places to visit here?"

"There's not much here in Alkurm unfortunately," Angela answered, "I was thinking of heading down to one of the clothing stores I know around here to, well... " She gestured to her current outfit. "It's not too far away, about a minute or two."

"Might as well tag along if you don't mind," Krystal said.

"Not at all," Wesley said before they resumed their walking. They continued to stroll by, making their way among the furs that they crossed paths with, Angela ignoring any sights she might be getting. There were several posts lined up by the sidewalks here and there, most of them stocked with stuff such as souvenirs, antiques and the like. While the planet had some advanced technology, yes, it seemed to be one of those who kept their customs in check.

"Here," Angela announced as they walked by a large building. They followed Angela inside. The place wasn't really busy at this time, putting aside the personal, there were only three or four furs browsing by. The place was pretty much like any clothing apparel outlet, several rackets, shelves and such with as many designs as you can think. A black female panther passed by dressed in a red, knee-length skirt and a red vest. She was about to greet their new customers before she spotted the lynx.

"Angela! Look at you," she exclaimed, looking at her from top to bottom, examining the various bruises and what not, "What happened?"

She waved her paw, "Ah, just a bad day at work," she smirked. "Think you can find my anything good to replace this?"

"Certainly, please come this way," she say as Angela let go of Wesley's support and started to walk towards her, "Wesley, you and your friends can feel free to browse through to see if you like anything," she offered.

"Thanks, Luna," Wesley answered as the panther and the lynx walked away.

"I guess I'm going to go and look around," Krystal announced as she started to walk around the rackets.

"I better try to find something, I only have this set of clothing with me and, well, you never know," Wesley said before he went to the shelves and rackets containing all of the male clothing trying to find something suitable both for him, and his species.

Fox shrugged, he didn't really felt like searching for clothing right now. He had a closet full of various things back in the Great Fox, so instead he just say down in one of the chairs near the entrance of the store. He typed a few things into his wrist-comp, making a small screen with several numbers flash. The numbers started to decrease with every number he inputted into it. "Peppy was right, if my estimate is right, this is going to kill our funds..." He sighed. He kept going through several figures before Krystal showed up sporting a long white skirt that in the left reached past the knee and was open on the side all the way to near mid-thigh and the right side only reached down to the knee, enough to cover the strap where her staff rested, she also had what looked like the combination of a vest and a top, in white color as well.

A strange combination perhaps, but it looked nice on her as Fox complimented, "Looks pretty nice on you," he smiled.

"Really?" She asked and Fox nodded in response, "This place is pretty cheap in comparison to Corneria, I swear this would be at least thrice the price back there," she smiled looking at the tag from the side of the skirt.

"Hey, you look pretty well in that," Angela commented as she came from behind, wearing a pair of blue baggy jeans, a white t-shirt and a red vest, still with her grey boots. "Let me repay you for rescuing us by at least getting you something while you are here," she said.

Krystal shook her head, "Nah, you don't have to worry, I was just browsing through."

Angela shook her head in determination, "It's the least I can do for you, besides, I can really tell you like that outfit," she said, and boy was she right.

Wesley came from the side, "You better comply; if there's something to know about her, is that she is very determined," he said as a smug smile appeared in Angela's face.

"Well, I won't deny that I like this, but..." Krystal looked at Angela, who still had that smug smile, she knew by then that she indeed wouldn't give in, "Oh alright, I won't be able to talk you out of it, now could I?"

The couple shook their head in unison. "Come on," Angela said, "Lets pay for these things," she finished as Krystal followed her.

After a few moments they came back, Krystal holding a bag with her previous attire which Fox promptly carried for her. They left the building and started to walk around. "So, anyone hungry?" Angela asked.

----------

And so the day went by, going from place to place, looking at all the antique and souvenir stores here and there. Night was starting to roll around, and Fox's wrist-comp read 6.49 PM, but he wasn't sure if it was the same time here as in Corneria, he just knew it was getting late.

They were starting to find a place to lodge themselves. Angela, who seemed to know quite a bit of this planet took them to what in her opinion, was the best hotel in the settlement. The building, or at least the first floor was a rather large lobby. After entering, if you kept going in a straight line you would hit the counter eventually, on the left of the entrance was a lounge area that had several couches, a large plasma TV and a bar attended by a brown Shepherd. On the right of the entrance was a small fountain surrounded by several chairs. Slightly north from it was a set of stairs. On the far left were three elevators with several attendants from the hotel standing by and on the far right was an exit.

Fox pressed a button on his wrist-comp and opened a direct link with the communicator Slippy had, "Hey Slip," he called and awaited for a response, which never came. He let go of the button and pressed it again, trying again, "Slippy? You there?" And no answer came either.

Krystal looked at him with a slight hint of anxiety. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Fox let go of the button in his wrist-comp, "I don't know, but something's wrong. Slippy's not answering my call, let me try Peppy..." He pressed another button, "Peppy, you copy me?" ... No answer as well. Wesley and Angela walked closer.

"Maybe we should head back," Wesley offered.

"Ah, don't worry, we'll be gone and back in an instant, come on Krys, lets go," Fox said.

"Right, be sure to get a room for use while we are out," she said as she sprung after Fox, leaving the complex.

"You think we should follow?" Angela asked a few seconds after they left their line of sight.

Wesley nodded, "Definitely, but can you run?" He asked.

"Yeah," she answered flexing her right leg, "I'm feeling a lot better already, come on, lets go after them!" And they dashed as well, heading back to the hangar...

* * *

Alan: And finally!   
Krystal: You sure took your own sweet time doing this.   
Alan: You know, school and all that...   
Krystal: Yeah yeah... You know, you said you weren't going to torture me in any way in this story and yet you make me go through nightmares with the image of my father...   
Alan: Oh come on! That's not torture! -- I prefer the term trauma or something like that...   
Krystal: Why you... Starts chasing Alan around with her staff 

So anyway, hope you liked this chapter, and once again, sorry for the excessive delay. I'll try to bring the next installment a lot sooner considering I only have this and two more weeks of classes before I'm out. So yeah, thanks to Wesley for the character of Wesley Halbred and the variation of Angela Cross. And as usual, to all my readers.

If you notice any typos, discrepancies (Like calling a planet wrongly Rolls eyes) or stuff like that, please let me know. Also, any constructive (read people, read: constructive) criticism, feel free to leave me a review or a mail. Flames; well, of course I'd prefer to avoid them, but alas, if they are necessary, please send them to my mail directly. Thank you.

I'll see you all next time!

Signed as usual,   
Alan "Gray Fox" Quirino - grayfox2510 (at) hotmail (dot) com   
Until next time!

Wait for next chapter for an actual title.


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